A Dangerous Mind
by cynosure-error
Summary: <html><head></head>There's a new Shadowhunter in town. As arrogant as Jace. Armed with a blade and tongue. It's Clary. A what if, fic. OOC. This is under serious editing construction.</html>
1. The Capital of Hell

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Mortal Instruments**

**A/N: POV's change between Clary and the Lightwoods/Jace**

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><p>"<em>At Pandemonium, the high capital of Satan and his peers."<br>_John Milton, Paradise Lost

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><p>Clary eyed the octopus-haired demon in interest as he was reassuring the Pandemonium bouncer that his 'weapon' was anti-dangerous and part of his pathetic costume. To the mundanes it was a place to loosen up, get rid of the responsibilities and the week's sorrows for the night, or, to drown in the sorrows with alcohol if they are <em>that<em> type of drunk. Pandemonium was really famous spot for demons and Downworlders to hang out and get playfully drunk. A even more famous spot for the New York Shadowhunters to hunt demons. However, it was definitely not the place to dress up like – well whatever the heck the demon chose to wore. It had the decency to wear normal casual mundane clothes (points for trying to blend in) – even at a club – and thought it was perfectly normal to accessorise with a stake.

"I'm a vampire hunter," the demon protested, his tentacle hair bouncing as he shook his head.

"Vampire hunter, my ass." Clary whispered to her best friend Simon Lewis.

"Stupid mundies," Simon Lewis murmured, he was eyeing the wooden stake though with a wary eye behind his glasses.

"Agreed, mundies believe anything these days. I could tell them the world is ending, flash some pretty lights in the horizon and voila! I have a mass hysteria of drunken teenagers." Clary muttered back, grimly.

"Or 2012."

Clary frowned, "Simon, that's pretty much the same thing and I think you're insulting yourself? You're a mundie too." She glanced sidelong to Simon, "When we're in I'll go in for the kill, I bet there is more of them Eidolon demons with him in the shape of a druggie or whatever. Just enjoy yourself and note that you're lucky to be on my best friend," Clary winked as she watched the bouncer finally gave entrance to the demon.

Inside Pandemonium was crazy, with the blaring upbeat music and the heat of neon-haired-coloured people making out or dancing dirty. The strobe lights added to the dirty and sexually tense atmosphere. Clary scanned the club quickly for an approximate count of demons, Downworlders and potential fellow Shadowhunters.

She spotted a blonde Shadowhunter in the corner, watching the crowds for demon activity. Then two joined the blonde one.

Three Shadowhunters.

_By the Angel._

Clary realised she knew who they were: Jonathan Christopher 'Jace' Herondale,_ parabatai_ and adoptive brother to the Lightwoods; Isabelle Lightwood, her interesting choice of weaponry of a gold whip suited her and her older brother Alec Lightwood, self-appointed protector and the sensible one of the trio. She also knew the dynamics of the trio, especially of Jace's skills in fighting and battle. _I've done my scouting and research to know he would give my brother one hell of a fight. Do not underestimate him._

_I think… it's time for the Shadowhunters from the Institute to finally know my presence in New York. And if they're hostile…I'll go down fighting._

"Why Pandemonium?" Simon yelled through the pumping music, "What attracts the demons here?"

"It is the capital of Hell," Clary shrugged then she felt someone watching her. _Or something_.

Clary easily picked out the octopus, vampire-hunting wannabe with his freaky green eyes that was staring at her. Clary picked out a sexy outfit to wear: strapless black number that hugged her bodice, black 6 inch boots and a mini leather jacket- which concealed four blades. Normally, Clary would detest putting suggestive clothing, but she doubt a demon would pick her up if she wore faded jeans, a band top and chucks. The demon walked to her seductively and purred in her ear, "I think it's a bit crowded in here- shall we have some privacy?"

She answered with a slight smirk, "Sure…anything for you, sexy." With a slight sway of hips, she let the demon lead her to the storage room.

Clary also felt the sights of three significant Shadowhunters follow her.

_Interesting won't even cover what's going to happen next._

**I, A, J POV**

Isabelle, Alec and Jace walked into Pandemonium, lazily taking positions on the sides of the club, which gave them a good vantage point of the club. They watched for any sign of demons until Alec whispered in an irritated tone, "Stupid mundie girl, caught an Eidolon demon," he pointed towards a small girl with bright fiery hair and sporting a mini leather jacket heading into the storage room.

Isabelle cursed-rather colourfully.

**C POV**

"Oh come on! Six demons against one petite Shadowhunter. No fair." Clary laughed shakily but added to herself, _way too easy_. The demons had her cornered at the wall, cruel and savage smiles worn against their deceptively human faces. She could see them mentally undressing her. Or torturing her. Or both.

"Shouldn't have come with me then, my dear." Octopus hair chuckled and slid its gaze to its friends, who were wise to be hesitant. "Oh _come on_! What can a small, stupid, weaponless Shadowhunter do? Poor pretty red curls go to a waste." And it pounced forward with lightning speed.

With her right leg she automatically did a round off kick across its face, slamming him to the wall and grasped one of her blades and held it at his throat. "Don't judge me because I'm small." Then she violently but cleanly shoved the blade in, Clary watched in satisfaction as it choked on its own blood then eventually disappear to whatever hellish dimension it came from.

With that in her left hand she took another blade and seductively slid it across her lip, yet her eyes looked challengingly innocent. She purred to the remaining demons that were goggle-eyed, "Anyone else?"

They all lunged towards her; two didn't even reach it two steps before a blade whistled through the air with terrifying speed and sunk in their hearts with deadly accuracy. Clary somersaulted into the air, slicing a demon's head in half as she vaulted over it. She landed gracefully and silently, she kicked another hard in the groin and as it staggered back she beheaded it with another dagger with a vicious strike. _Three seconds, four dead - that's a record._ She thought smugly. Clary turned around to face the last one a few meters away from her who was still wondering whether to run or fight-but it never decided because Clary had it in a headlock position.

"Who the hell are you?" it rasped, eyes wide with fright.

"I would be proud to be called a girl version of Captain Jack Sparrow," Clary lowered her head so her mouth was against its ear, "Oh and by the way don't call me a 'small, stupid, weaponless Shadowhunter'. Look what you and your friends got yourselves into." Clary told it with a amused expression when she was made a move to snap it's neck.

The demon cried out, "W-wait Valentine's alive!"

"Yeah, probably true." Clary snapped its neck. Once she was satisfied it left earth's dimension, she dusted off and without turning around said, "Stop staring at me like that. I feel like I've done something wrong like putting a cinnamon doughnut into a coffee machine. Some words of wisdom: you might want to talk more quietly; I can even hear your heightened heart beating."

**J POV**

We all stared at the vicious red-head in awe and shock. It was a sudden turn of tables, from the cowering mundane to the violent pixie. In a matter of three seconds she had five out of the six demons dead and started to play with the remaining one as if she was playing Barbie and Ken.

"Who the hell are you?" the demon rasped, eyes wide with fright.

"I would be proud to be called a girl version of Captain Jack Sparrow. Oh and by the way don't call me a 'small, stupid, weapon less Shadowhunter'. Look what you and your friends got yourselves into." The pixie answered and turned his head to finish him off before the demon cried out, 'W-wait Valentine's alive!'

To our surprise the girl answered before cleanly snapping his neck, "Yeah, probably true."

"She doesn't look winded, as if six of them didn't even take her breath away or frighten her. By the Angel, what is wrong with her?' Isabelle whispered in astonishment, "and what do you think she means, 'Yeah whatever, probably true'?"

"How would I know, I didn't even know there was another Shadowhunter in New York," I whispered back still watching the pixie. _Was she bipolar? She was just butchering demons and now she's deadly calm. The calm before a storm._

"Stop staring at me like that." she said to our shock and surprise when she finished dusting off, "I feel like I've done something wrong like putting a cinnamon doughnut into a coffee machine. Some words of wisdom: you might want to talk more quietly; I can even hear your heightened heart beating."

We walked out weapons unsheathed and at the ready just in case she might decide to turn violent butcher against us.

"Oh put those weapons away, I'm not going to attack you." the girl said, slightly amused, "Nice whip by the way, Lightwood." indicating the gold electrum whip in Isabelle's hand.

"W-what did you call me? How did you kill them?" Isabelle asked ever so brilliantly. I mentally face palmed. G_reat first impression, Isabelle. Yes by the Angel, the pixie is definitely a fighter but don't need to be so obvious about it._

"I happen to be in possession of a blade and I just poke it into their body." The girl rolled her eyes, "You're a Shadowhunter - you should know." She answered not bothering to answer her first question.

"She means, "How the hell did you just kill six freakin' Eidolon demons in 6 inch heels as if you're just killing a spider?'" Alec defended his sister.

"They mean, 'How the hell did you just kill six freakin' Eidolon demons-you're barely five feet and you're scrawny!'" I spoke up, "I mean not to offend you or anything but you _are_ small."

The girl shrugged, "Don't judge me on my appearance, you saw the fate of those demons when they did. Mr Wayland-"

"Wait-how do you know our names and we don't know yours?" I interrupted, however, deep within my mind I was thinking _By the Angel, how 'Mr Wayland' rolled off her tongue._

"Which question do you want me to answer?" The red head asked with a smirk.

"Both." I flashed her my infamous smirk in turn.

"I know your names and your personalities because I am just plain skill and that answers both questions." The girl answered, her smirk growing. _Well aren't you the epitome of humble._

"What's my personality? - sexy, irresistible or perfect or all of the above?" I couldn't help but inquired, cockily.

"No, right now I'm getting: sarcastic, annoying, player and rude," Her smirk grew even more, _Well…that was rude_. I thought light-heartedly.

"I think you're like Goldilocks," she continued, dismissing my mock horror by turning towards my _parabatai_, "Mr Lightwood - you're so far: curious, intelligent and I have to say you're pretty damn hot. Miss Lightwood- my first impression of you was shy since you're not really talking but you're probably not, when you fired that question at the start of our meeting. You have a great sense of fashion and like Alec, you're really hot." The girl pretended to ponder about this, "Happy with what I got?" She started to turn towards the door back to the club.

Alec flushed a deep shade of crimson but mumbled a yes.

Isabelle cried out, "God I love this girl, first time I've ever seen a girl that is able to withstand Jace."

"Hey!" I said in vague annoyance, "You think Alec is hot but not me? Are you serious? And Izzy-when did you start saying 'dude'? It's not really you." I demanded. "Who can't resist these?" and motioned to my body.

"Apparently she can, Jace. Wait! What is your name anyways, oh delightful girl-that-can-resist-his- really- annoying-looks?" Alec asked looking at her overdramatically with wonder and awe to purposely irritate me.

"Mr Wayland, your arrogance is turning me off." Then she became silent, an internal conflict in her eyes and finally said, "I don't think it's safe for you to say my name."

"Why not! It's just a name." Isabelle demanded. _Oh Isabelle, I did not know the extent of your naivety. A name can be the dagger in the night or the battle cry in a war._

"My name is Clarissa."

"Clarissa….?"

Clary hesitated before saying, "Clarissa…Clarissa Morgenstern."

**C POV**

Before the Terrific Trio could say something, Clary darted back into the club to get Simon and leave before they could drag her sorry ass out. She found him at the bar-on the other side of the club and shoved her way to get to him. _It's annoying being small- I'm not getting anywhere but instead getting damn squished. It's also annoying being red headed- because when I turn my head towards where I came from I see that Jace has spotted my flaming hair_. She thought glumly.

"Oh for the Angel's sake! Get out of my way!" Clary screamed at a pink-headed guy. And at that moment, someone grabbed her right arm. Through instinct Clary twirled her arm around the grabber so her arm was around his neck and kneed him hard in the groin. "I'm sorry…but get off me, I'm not going down with a fight!" she yelled as he groaned with pain and clutched his… trouser trout.

Clary ran and dodged people to get to Simon but Alec and Isabelle happened to be there talking with him. She sighed in defeat before saying, "Hi, lovelies."

Simon turned his head and stared at his best friend, his eyes saying '_What the hell happened?'_ Clary shrugged in annoyance and decided to accept defeat and sit down and talk with the Lightwoods.

"What happened? Oh I just happened to have a nice chit chat with Alec, Izzy and Jace after they saw me kill some Eidolon demons." Clary filled in a tone that sounded as if it was an everyday thing like buying a Hershey's Bar from a vending machine.

"Eidolen…the shapeshifter ones?" Simon's eyes weren't focused as he stared off trying to remember. Clary left him to his thoughts.

"Are you serious?" Alec asked Clary who faced him in confusion, "that you're Valentine's daughter, I mean."

"The one and only." She sighed, "Let me guess your questions: Why didn't you know there was any other Shadowhunters in New York? Who knows that's your problem? Is Valentine here with me? No he is not. Is he alive? No damn idea, probably though. Did I grow up in Idris? Yes I did until I was eleven. Any siblings? Yes, Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern- one of the few who are better than me. Any more questions?" Clary said simply, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah I do, why'd you knee me? –you just hurt me physically and my pride has been wounded." Jace asked coming out of nowhere.

"Because it's _very _rude to grab a girl. And of course it would hurt unless...uh…you were castrated." She smiled that reminded them of a shark, "Never mind. Anyway, your ego and pride needed a savage kick." Clary answered, pleasantly.

"And so you decided to have a nice _friendly_ talk with these two, Morgenstern?"

Clary looked sharply at him causing Jace to blink and said, "Don't call me that. And what's wrong with having a nice talk with these _two_?"

Isabelle laughed, "True so true, what is wrong with _us_, Jace?"

"Nothing, I just don't know why you're being nice to them but not to me." Jace feigning sadness.

"We've already established the fact that, Clary is _capable_ of resisting you…" Alec reminded, "…since you claim you can influence _everyone _under your charming trait."

"You think I'm charming? Well it is true I suppose…" Jace trailed off, "I'm kidding, I'm not actually this arrogant but I do take some pride in my appearance."

"No I think you're conceited and your ego can fit the Milky Way ten times over," Clary defended Alec who laughed. Simon coughed. Clary looked at him surprised for a moment, "Oh yes this is my best friend, Simon Lewis. And yes he is a mundie."

"Let's go, your mom is going to freak out-as usual." Simon said, starting to stand.

"Hey wait- Clary can you go to the Institute anytime soon? And see if you're _actually_ Valentine's daughter." Jace asked.

Clary sighed and muttered something like _unbelieving bastard_. "Fine. See you later, Lightwoods and Wayland." And just like that, Simon and Clary walked out of Pandemonium, arm in arm.


	2. As One Comes to Life, Another Dies Away

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Mortal Instruments**

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><p>"<em>Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away.<em>"  
>Homer, The Iliad<p>

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><p>Her mother had disappeared somewhere with Luke so Clary decided to confine herself in her room which was littered with bunches of pad-paper. Clary smiled to herself – not that there was anyone to actually <em>see <em>it – her mother thought she was so clever. Keeping the lovey-dovey glances to Luke minimum, her tone always becoming softer when she addressed him, being flamboyant and euphoric some mornings. Which obviously meant she got laid the night before.

"Why can't I have Mom's skill?" She sighed as she looked down at her eggplant-armed prince that reminded her of an alpaca. "Oh whatever, stay an alpaca then!" She crunched up the paper and threw it at the orange painted wall.

That's when she realised the phone was ringing and she bolted to get it.

"Is this Clarissa Morgenstern?" the unidentifiable voice on the other end asked.

"Yes?"

"You might remember me from last night since I'm the Blondie that you kicked in the manhood with. I'm getting desperate for you and want you to come to the Insti-"

"_Simon_! Oh for the love of the Angel! You know how much he annoys me!" Clary paused, "You're getting better-just try to make yourself sound like an irritating bastard and you got me tricked."

"Well the good news is: I haven't just called you up to annoy you to death. Instead Eric's doing a poetry reading at Java Jones and blah and the whole band is going to be there to show their support. Oh and you're coming." Simon said in one breath.

"Wow you're pushy. How do you know I don't have anything on?"

"I saw your mother at Luke's bookstore when I ducked in to check if there was any new comic books."

Clary sighed, _At least she'll be happy in the morning_. "I'm not coming unless you pick me up in less than three minutes starting now." Clary told him.

"Oh my God-and you call me pushy." Simon muttered.

"I'm not pushy-I'm more like a woman with high standards. Anyway Mom's pissed at me because I was late last night."

"See you in less than three." Simon hung up.

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><p>Eric was already onstage by the time Clary and Simon arrived at the crowded Java Jones.<p>

"God help me-we'll sit over there." Simon whispered and pointed at a darkened corner, which held a few tables. 'Want anything?'

"Coffee would be good." Clary answered and started to walk towards the designated table, the only other person there was at the back was a blonde.

"Coffee…?" Simon called after her.

"You're my best friend you should know what kind of coffee I'd like on a gloomy day." Clary answered without turning around.

The blonde leaned towards Clary and tapped, "Excuse me but are you going out with that guy?"

"The guy on the stage, Eric? Heck no!" Clary answered, genuinely surprised.

"No I meant the guy in the glasses!"

"Right, no he's just my friend."

"Thank God, because he's pretty damn cute. Does he have a girlfriend?" the girl pushed on.

"Not that I know of..." Clary told her, cautiously. _By the Angel, Simon is striking gold. _She looked over her attire and physical appearance quickly but taking in much detail. Platinum blonde hair that was surprisingly natural, a touch of freckles along her button nose, green doe-eyes, which screamed innocence and had a slender build. She was beautiful. Clary approved.

"Oh God-is he gay?" The blonde's eyes widened in horror. _Horror? Homophobia? Maybe I take it back with my approval. _

"Do you believe that gays dress well?"

"Yeah, I strongly believe they have a good fashion sense. See I have a gay frie-"

"See his outfit? It sucks so…" _I cross off homophobia and my approval is back._

"He isn't gay!" the blonde squealed and hastily turned back to her table when she saw Simon coming towards them. Clary looked at Simon; she hadn't checked him out thoroughly enough to mark him as good-looking. She concluded with the fact that his dark eyes did give a mysterious aura and if he had the right haircut he would be pretty good looking.

"Why are you staring at me?" Simon blushed.

"I'm going to betray my own sex and confess the blonde over there thinks you're 'pretty damn cute'." She answered quietly so the blonde didn't die of mortification.

"Why do you think that?" He asked but she was saved from answering the question when Eric interrupted.

"Sorry about that guys! I'm Eric and this is my man Matt on the drums. My first poem is named 'Untitled'." Eric screwed up his face as if he was about to double over and puke his organs out and wailed random words into the mike that Clary didn't bother catch.

Clary and Simon slid down their seats as Eric kept giving his torturous lecture. "Don't tell anyone I know him." Simon begged, grimly. "It looks like he's going to choke up his 'loins'."

"How the hell would you know what 'loins' are?" Clary demanded, astonished.

"Eric uses it in every single poem so out of curiosity I looked it up. It's a human body part somewhere in the backbone or whatever." Simon confessed, sheepishly. He started going pale, "I want to talk to you about something…"

"Jungle Butt isn't a good name for your band." Clary said instantly.

"No not about the band, I mean me not having a girlfriend…" As if on cue both red and blonde girl leaned towards Simon.

"Please ask someone out that I actually like for example, Bonnie Steward." Clary suggested, thoughtfully, "And I know of a really nice girl with blonde hair."

Simon began turning green, "I don't want to ask Bonnie Steward out. I want to ask out…"

"Come on Simon, choke it up! I'm your best friend –well I think I am- Am I your best friend Simon? Oh well that's not the point you can tell me anything." Clary sighed and widened her eyes, "Simon! Are you batting for the other team?"

"_No_! I'm not batting for the other team…." Simon uttered, nervously.

Clary heard a cough from behind her, a noise that sounded like someone trying to hold back a laugh. She turned and widened her emerald eyes in shock.

Jace.

He wiggled his fingers towards her like a retarded blonde fairy and walked out the door.

"Simon," she said slowly, as if trying to manage her a irritation. Her fingers twitched with anticipation for a fight, "I see a certain Blonde, I'll be back.' Clary ran towards the door, hastily.

Clary burst through the doors and saw Jace slouched against the alley wall. He glanced up in surprise and grinned, "Your friend's poetry is terrible."

Clary didn't miss a beat, "Agreed. He can pass as a reincarnate of Shakespeare. But I don't care about his poetry. _Why _are you stalking me? I made it clear I'll pass by the Institute sometime soon."

"Who said I was stalking you?"

"Showing up at Java Jones, a barely known coffee shop on the outskirts of Brooklyn, _coincidentally_ when I am here, knowing that the guy up on stage is someone I know - not a friend by the way, and eavesdropping on Simon and I's conversation. Don't bother bluffing yourself. It also shows you have a tendency to eavesdrop."

"Red Pixie," Jace smirked obviously the list of the reasons of being a stalker didn't affect him, "I finish my job not caring if I have to intrude other people's privacy."

"My name isn't 'Red Pixie', it is Clary. So what's this job of yours, _Goldilocks_?"

"Touché. My job is to get you to the Institute and I like my sexy, golden hair the way it is."

"More like piss-colored, organic vomit." Clary muttered but loud enough for Jace to hear.

Jace ignored her last insult, "I'm getting you to the Institute, right? Hodge is very interested in you, since you can get quite vicious and dangerous..._very_ bad threat to the community. My job is also to protect the community from threats."

"Well I want to go whenever I please."

"That's the problem. You can choose not to go or in the next decade or so. So that leaves me with choice…" Jace started to stride towards her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Since I'm a _vicious and dangerous threat_.'"Clary stepped back. Clary's phone rang, MOM flashing across the screen. Already sensing danger she answered, "Mom? What's wrong?"

"Clary? Thank the Angel. Tell Luke he's found me." Jocelyn instructed her, her voice was breathless and panicked. Crashing and the sound of splintering wood sounded in the background.

"Mom! I thought you were with Luke?" Clary mentally put the clues together, "Oh _shit._ Which one found you?" Clary asked hastily but instead of her answer she got four words from her Mom.

"Clary, I love you." The phone went dead.

"By the Angel." Clary let out a stream of curses so violently she dropped her phone which cracked on the cement ground.

"Clary? What's wrong?'" Jace looked at her with anxiously. Clary took up her glamour and laughed shakily.

"He's alive, Jace." Without a word, she took off towards her apartment. She stole a quick glance behind her, almost expecting him to follow her but he was still standing there in confusion and something else she couldn't identify. She gritted her teeth and kept running forward.

Clary kept running, jumping gracefully over or on top of cars when the traffic light decided to play cruel on her. When she got there she saw to her relief the lights were on in her apartment. Taking the steps a three at a time and arrived to her apartment's door, opened it and inhaled sharply.

The apartment was in a mess; the tables and chairs were broken or upturned, the windows were open letting in the hot breeze and its white curtains floated inwards eerily like the messy hotel scene from _Inception_ when Dom and Mal were arguing whether to commit suicide or not. The most horrific thing was the paintings, all ripped and slashed.

_Demons,_ Clary thought filled with rage, _demons will pay. Humans wouldn't have done this or else they would've gotten all our goods and my mother would be able to fend them off_.

Then she heard it the talons scraping the floor. _Oh Angel_. Clary swore quietly and turned and her worst nightmare was true. The bruised flesh and brown, ancient bones, the skeletal fingers capable of slashing savage grooves and the ugly skull which didn't had holes where the eyes and nose should've been. "Abbadon!" Clary greeted fighting to to stay calm, "What a pleasant surprise! Now…what the hell did you do with my mother?"

He grinned his toothless and stinky smile at her, "Jocelyn Fairchild? I did not take her. I came for the Mortal Cup."

"You lie, you filthy bastard." Clary snarled, "What the hell did you to her!" She grabbed two daggers out from her jacket.

The Greater Demon laughed, "No. Where is the Mortal Cup?"

"I don't know! Why are you asking my mother and me?" Clary's hands trembled slightly.

"She was the one who hid it you ignorant girl!" Abbadon striked forward, talons raking her. Clary rolled out of the way but wasn't fast enough, a bloody rake across her stomach had appeared. Clary threw her blade with blinding speed and it sunk in its right shoulder. Abbadon ignored it and started towards her and Clary leapt at him aiming for his head with another blade. As if she was a fly, the Greater Demon swatted her across the room and landed on the upturned fridge.

_How the hell did I get in the kitchen?_ Clary thought. She still had her blade but sadly she didn't have the sun on her side, twilight was on her. Abbadon clutched her around the neck and held her to the wall.

"Where is the Mortal Cup? If your answer satisfies me, I'll finish your life swiftly." Abbadon asked, "Another generation of Morgernsterns...I say, will this one be the like their predecessors?"

Clary narrowed her eyes, "I am nothing like my father!"

"You share the same vindictiveness, the same potential, the same name," the Greater Demon leaned closer, his breath washing over her, "_the same blood runs through your veins_."

"You know you should floss more often, your breath is utterly putrid." Clary responded and stabbed his arm over and over with her blade. Abbadon howled and slammed her head against the wall. Before she knew it, the blackness consumed her.

* * *

><p>The sounds of sirens were stabbing her already pounding ears. She found herself outside hidden from sight behind her mother's rose bushes. She found Jace knelt over her, tying a knot behind her neck.<p>

"_Jace_?" she asked, incredulous, "How the hell do you know where I live?"

"It's pretty hard catching up with you and you dancing over those cars but I just had to follow your hair that's all." Jace answered with a grin then he sobered, his face dissolving into seriousness and concern, "How'd you survive Abbadon?"

Clary sat up, her shirt sticking to her back from the wet dew from the grass. "I pissed him off quite a lot but he was reluctant to kill me because I knew something he needed." She groaned, minutely, the headache pounding even more into her temples. "Jace, looks like I have to go to the Institute, after all.'

"Great idea!" Jace exclaimed sarcastically, "Wait. What did he want from you?"

Clary ignored the question and looked at the small squad of police officers, "Demons…" she growled but with an air of tiredness.

"I know your love for violence and demon blood to be running through your hands but," Jace started, "we better get going. Can we go that way?' Jace pointed at the shadowed alley.

"Can't, all bricked up to our convenience." Clary told him, Jace looked at her with another flash of worry. The ground was spinning under her feet, "Jace…Jace," She gasped out, "you might have to carry me…" Then she collapsed, whether caught by Jace she didn't care but her last glimpse of reality was his concerned face.

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><p><strong>AN Heh anyone pick up Simon's hint before the cafe scene? Mate, I didn't even see it until I started re-editing my work.**


	3. Sing No More This Bitter Tale

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Mortal Instruments**

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><p>"<em>But sing no more this bitter tale that wears my heart away. It opens up again the wound of longing...<em>"  
>Homer, Odyssey<p>

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><p>Clary woke up with a start pulling herself up to a sitting position, her hand instinctively moving to where she kept a hidden knife. Thankfully the ground wasn't spinning under her feet anymore. Then Clary noticed her surroundings, white, clean linen sheets, and the smell of antiseptic in the air the atmosphere of just <em>hygiene. <em>Some sort of hospital or ward.

The memories of the events she last recalled flooded her mind. The Institute.

_Utterly perfect_.

Thne to her surprise, she saw Isabelle was sitting next to her bed, "Finally awake, we were all getting worried. I didn't want to this rare girl to slip through my fingers."

Clary sank back into the mattress, "'Rare girl?'"

"Girl-that-can-resist-Jace's-irritating-and-conceited-traits girl." Isabelle smiled.

Clary laughed, "I don't believe Jace is as conceited as he portrays himself to be." A sigh. "How long was I out?"

"Two days and a half." Isabelle chirped. A faded denim jeans and a tank top replaced her white dress, "How'd you survive the Greater Demon attack?"

"I'll tell everyone when we're all together, I would get irritated if I had to tell the same story five times. This is the Institute right?"

"Yeah, we thought you'd drop by but not like this." Isabelle glanced at her with concern.

"Angel I'm hungry." Clary clutched her stomach. Isabelle gave her a cloudy liquid and Clary downed it, hungrily.

"I got some of my old and smallest clothes for you in the bathroom and you kind of…"

"You don't have to say it, I stink." Clary finished.

"Yeah you do." Isabelle flashed her a smile and flounced away.

After cleaning she found a few bruises on her shoulder and used an _iratze_ to cover it up. Isabelle's clothes looked really stupid on her, the jeans kept rolling down her smooth pale legs right after she folded them up several times and the shoulder straps of her red tank top always managed to slip down her shoulders. Clary sighed in defeat until she spotted the knife they had left her next to her on her bedside table. She roughly cut off the edges to allow the pants to actually fit. Afterwards, with some satisfaction she put her Sketchers on.

_I have to tell Luke what happened._ Clary thought. The corridor outside the infirmary was patterned with old-fashioned Victorian paper. _Every Institute is like its personal labyrinth_. She sighed as she looked at another hallway dotted with doors. She decided to follow the faint sound of piano music coming from further down the hallway. As she grew closer to the music she realized whoever was playing it was really good at the piano. She peered around the open door and walked in as quietly as she could and sat down in one of the sofas in the dark corner.

Clary took the advantage to finally properly look at Jace, obliviously playing the piano. Jace was tall, she could tell even though he was sitting – with a great posture she should add - approximately at 6 feet. His hair was curled softly around his crown, shaping his own personal golden wreath. His skin was streaked, as expected, with silver thin scars that any female who thought dangerous was sexy would be attracted to. His body was muscular – not in an overly way but slim and toned a Shadowhunter version of the mundane's swimmer. She remembered his eyes, sensual, smouldering, seductive. Clary agreed he was definitely attractive – and he knew it too – he was downright beautiful.

Sensing something Jace looked around, "Alec? You there?"

Clary grinned at the sudden opportunity, making her voice sound unrecognizable and coming from outside of the door, "No, I am named Archangel Michael and my present task on Earth is to come forth and bring justice to thy sinful mortals."

Jace paled and started to stand, his head turned to the door, "W-what? You must know the Angel Raziel."

"No mortal creature will speak to thy holy being like that! You shall perish first, Jonathan Christopher son of Michael Wayland."

"I-I am sorry, Lord Michael! Forgive me for my sudden outburst!" Jace trembled, ever-so-slightly, his golden face turned milky white.

_I love ventriloquism and…and Jace actually_trembled! Clary thought before bursting out with laughter. Jace whirled on her and looked at her with such embarrassment she laughed even harder, doubling over and tears appeared from the corners of her eyes. Seeing Clary on the floor, he started laughing too.

"By…the…An…Angel!" Clary managed out between laughs. "That was beautiful! You should've seen your face!"

After their laughter finally died down, Jace looked at Clary's attire, "You know that outfit looks somewhat…strange on you. The whole ripped jeans thing with the red singlet contradicts each other. As bad as your friend…what's-his-name?"

"Simon is his name. Well it isn't my fault you took my clothes and burnt them." Clary responded with a roll of her eyes.

"No one wanted your blood all over the place so it was necessary. I'll bring you to Hodge." Jace said, heading for the door. Clary gracefully stood up and followed him.

The Institute was the average hollowed-out-not-really-fancy-decorations Institute Clary had been to. "Who else lives here besides from the Alec, Izzy, you and your tutor?"

"Alec's younger brother, Max and he is eight; Robert and Maryse Lightwood but they are off in Idris." Jace answered.

"Hmm…interesting… have you been brought up in Idris? Has Alec and Izzy?" Clary asked.

"Oh yes I have but Alec and Izzy hasn't though. My father brought me up in the Wayland Manor. You?" Jace told her but she didn't have to answer because they had arrived at the library. "This is the library." Jace told her shortly.

"Yeah I figured. Entrance looks the same as the Chicago and Miami Institutes." Clary pointed at the arch-shaped wooden doors. She opened the doors and took a step in, leaving Jace outside to follow her in.

The library was the typical ancient library in some ways; musty, aging books in shelves on the walls so high that tall ladders have to be reached to get the further most, unique flooring and this one was wood with chips of glass and marble sprinkled across the entire room, creating some sort of pattern and of course the magnificent desk at the centre of the room. This library was designed to be a circular room that tapered to the point like the inside of a tower.

A man with streaks of grey rose from the plush chair form behind the desk. Clary walked further into the room as Hodge greeted her. "Nice to meet you. You must be Hodge, I'm Clarissa." Clary said holding out her hand and heard Jace mutter, "Why couldn't she be that courteous to me?"

"Pleasure to meet you," Hodge returned shaking her hand, "You must be the infamous Clarissa Morgenstern that killed six Eidolon demons one-handed. May I ask how you would have survived the Greater Demon attack?"

"It wasn't one-handed, I used both hands. Off-topic but it is annoying when every demon you catch claims "Valentine's alive"." Clary looked at his shoulder and made out the dark silhouette of a raven. "_Hugo_?"

Hodge looked at her in surprise, "How'd you know his name?"

'During my childhood I saw him sometimes around the manor.' Clary answered, eyeing the bird with curiosity and guarded suspicious, "I survived the attack because Abbadon needed information out of me but I pissed him off so he decided to teach me a lesson."

"How did you…ugh… tick him off?" Hodge asked, eyes grave.

"I found her crumpled on the kitchen floor with a very scary pool of blood. Abbadon was practically sweating blood when it was caring for its numerous stab wounds. There was also a blade coming out of his shoulder so she must've knifed him." Jace answered for her. Clary glanced sidelong at Jace.

"You _knifed_ a Greater Demon?" a voice came from an armchair near an empty fireplace. _A talking armchair? What the hell?_ Clary thought and realized it was Alec Lightwood talking.

"Ultimately yes. When Abbadon decided to grab me and hold me against the wall in hopes of interrogating me, I decided to stab it so it would release its hold but he just slammed my head with the wall and I blacked out.' Clary shrugged.

_"Interrogate?_ What was he asking you?" Hodge asked.

Clary ignored the question, purposely, "Oh by the way Valentine's alive - not to my surprise and my brother, Jonathan Christopher Morg-"

"They're _alive_? How are they alive? We found his bones and his sons in their manor." Alec burst out.

"Oh Angel you guys don't know anything don't you?" Clary said, looking at the three men's confusion she sighed, "Okay. This will be a real eye-opener for all of you especially you Jace." She saw him in nod, "You're _not_ Michael Wayland's son, I don't know whose son you are but you're not from the Wayland family." With a tinge of regret she saw him pale and try to mentally compose his features, "I'm not sure who raised you either but I suspect it was Valentine...Morgernstern."

"The bones they found in the Fairchild manor was Michael Wayland's and his son's so the world would believe it was Valentine who perished." She trailed off, acknowledging the Shadowhunter's emotions portrayed on their faces, from dread to utter disturbance. With a sigh and slight reluctance she continued, "I was raised in the Nightshade manor with my brother by Valentine. Clarissa and Jonathan Nightshade raised by Benedict Nightshade who 'mysteriously' die when I was eleven."

Jace was stricken, Alec was sitting in the red armchair with his arm was frozen mid-air as if he was going to ask a question, Hodge's face was ashen grey. Clary had noticed he wasn't shocked…just pale.

"T-then how did you arrive here?" Hodge choked out.

"My brother and I were to be adopted, a Shadowhunter by the name of Zane Gonzalez. Heard of him? No one had but he had Marks and proved to have Clave blood- adopted my brother but he didn't want to adopt me. Then a woman adopted me when I was twelve under the name of Jacqueline Smithers. No one had heard of her either. However, just like _Zane_ _Gonzalez _she proved to have Clave blood, her real name is Jocelyn Fairchild, wife of Valentine, my biological mother."

"How would you happen to know the truth about your heritage?" Hodge asked.

"Jocelyn had told me. She wanted my Sight removed but I proved to be a remarkable Shadowhunter so she didn't want me to risk such a great fighter." Clary explained but her voice was slightly higher to Clary's irritation.

"How do you know Valentine is alive?" Jace asked.

"You heard my conversation on the phone with my Mom right?" Clary asked and Jace nodded as if that explained everything.

"What conversation, Jace?" Alec held a puzzled expression as he processed the large dose of information into his befuddled brain.

"Just before Jocelyn was taken and when I had found her at the café shop, she called Clary and told her to tell a Luke that a man had found her. Clary being a normal person in a situation when they're loved ones were being kidnapped right on the phone with them, asked…oh…so that's what it meant." Jace trailed off.

"Asked what?"

"'_Which one took you?_'"

"Thank you for reminding me Jace!" Clary flung a hand over her mouth.

"My pleasure, milady… but what was I reminding you off?" Jace asked.

"Can use the phone, Hodge? I need to call a friend." Clary asked to Hodge who nodded and handed her an old-fashioned phone.

Luke picked up on the third ring, "Hello, Luke speaking."

"Hey, It's Clary." She responded.

'Thank God! Are you okay?" The relief flooding from the other side of the line with a small scent of another emotion Clary couldn't really identify.

"Yes I'm fine! Jocelyn has-" Clary started.

'Yeah the police were here." He cut off.

"She wanted me to tell you-"

"Where are you?"

"…In the city, want me to come over?"

"No. Don't come over." Luke interrupted.

"_Let me finish_! As I was say-"

"Whatever your Mother had gotten herself in. It's not my business!"

"It's Val-"

"I've got my own problems. Leave me alone." And he hung up.

"Go screw yourself, bitch." Clary muttered, looking at the buzzing receiver as Alec and Jace cracked a smile.

"I guess he wasn't that _glad_ to hear you alive and-" Jace observed.

"Shut _up_!" Clary gave death glared him, her Mom described as the 'dagger'.

"I'd like to talk to Clary…" Hodge said.

"Well we are talking with her." Jace tore his eyes from Clary's dagger look to Hodge.

"Alone."

"Yeah fine with me." Alec smiled, "I need to process this information. _Valentine is alive_. Perfect." He stood up and walked over to the door, looking at Jace his eyes reading, _Hurry up!_

"Come on! I was the Macho Man and rescued her!" Jace frowned and looked back at Clary, "You want me here to _support_ you through your distress, as a friend!"

Alec laughed, "She can handle it herself without your _support_."

"Everyone needs my support of course!" Clary could hear the tone of annoyance in his voice, "Fine but I'm telling you no one can survive without my loving friendly guidance." The library doors closed with a sharp click and Clary took a seat by the fireplace where Alec was recently sitting.

"An extraordinarily sad tale you have told us, Clarissa." Hodge remarked, thoughtfully,

"Not a tale if it is fact." Clary said bluntly, "And please, call my Clary."

Hodge nodded as if in agreement, "I'll need to report to the Clave." His face creased into another thoughtful expression, "Why is it that we cannot see your Marks?"

"You can't see my Marks because I had put a permanent Mark on my side to conceal all my Marks- that way no one will suspect me as a Shadowhunter." Clary laughed softly at Hodge's puzzled expression.

"What Mark would that be? I have never come across a Mark like that." Hodge asked.

"It's a Mark I have named "_concealment"_.' Lifting the side of her red tank top until the start of her bottom rib, she whispered, "_Aperio_." Then the permanent Marks around her body flashed ember for a small moment. Hodge widened at his eyes as he saw the different Mark, it was really complicated like a snowflake: lines varied from thin to think and curves wrapped the edges to join into bold, hard straight lines.

"Unbelievable… I've never seen that before." Hodge breathed in amazement; he watched it as the permanent Mark disappeared.

"Of course you haven't, I created it.' Clary absently looked at her nails.

"No one can create new Marks." Hodge inhaled sharply.

"Didn't you just see the rune? It isn't anything you've seen before because this is as old as Angels itself. The runes used by Angels, never passed to mortals…" Clary gave him a history lecture.

"How can you create the Marks though? And we cannot?" Hodge was getting more and more confused and distressed.

"Do you know why I can kill demons so easily? It's _because_ my mother was injected with Angel blood from Valentine and I was born with a talent because I have more Angel blood than the typical Shadowhunters. My brother, Jonathan was injected with demon blood and so he's part demon. That's why he is quite better than me- he has demon blood _and_ a tab bit of Angel blood pulsing through his corrupt veins!" Clary explained, a bit impatiently.

"_So_you're claiming that you have more Angel blood than an average Shadowhunter and your brother has demon blood in him? That is why you possess extraordinary battle skills and you can create new runes or old ones from the beginning of time." Hodge sighed.

"I'm not claiming I'm talking mere truth. I swear on-"

"Nothing. I believe you." Hodge surprised her and instructed, "Now go find the others; I need to write to the Clave."

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><p><strong>Aperio = Latin word for 'appear'<strong>

**Clary doesn't know Jace is a Herondale, therefore, she doesn't know about how he has extra angel blood. She doesn't even know about the Herondale's injections so... yeah. Hopefully, that clears things up.**


	4. She Blinds Us All, That Fatal Madness

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Mortal Instruments**

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><p>"<em>Ruin, eldest daughter of Zeus, she blinds us all that fatal madness.<em>"  
>Homer, The Iliad<p>

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><p>When Clary left the library, she decided to go to the training area despite having no training gear. Silently walking through the hallways, she deduced the training area was near the kitchen or at least in the main 'part' of the Institute. Following her the faint smell of Chinese takeaway, she found the training area soon enough.<p>

Settling on target practise, she gathered a number of weapons and blindfolded herself. Using her spatial knowledge and memory, she aimed at the human targets and threw, one after the other - eventually building a steady rhythm.

She heard the light footsteps walking through the door and the weight of their gaze boring on her movements. _Jace_. Then the sound of two pairs of footsteps, one heavier than the other. _Alec and Isabelle_.

"You missed the vital points," Jace's voice rippled throughout through the room, slight disappointment in his voice. Without breaking rhythm – and still blindfolded, she swiftly threw a dagger, a hairbreadth's away from his ear. "_Clary!_" He yelped in surprise, "You're _blindfolded_! You could've killed me!"

Clary laughed at his discomfort.

"You won't be laughing any longer when I throw," Jace started, "this at your head."

Clary didn't catch the ball Jace threw, which would have been impressive but she did turn her head at the last second, effectively dodging the intended weapon - which was equally impressive, given she was blindfolded.

"Not bad, Clary, as much as he's my _parabatai_ you could've aimed-" Alec started but broke off when the _whoosh_ and _thunk_ of another knife landed underneath his armpit, effectively pinning him to the wall.

"You could've killed my brother!" Isabelle shrieked in surprise and horror.

"And you don't care if she killed me?" Jace demanded in mock hurt.

Clary cocked her head at the directions of the sounds all of them made, studying in the dark where they could be, trying to visualise their height from the ground. "I'm just trying to create some spark of excitement around here."

"Are you saying we're boring hosts?" Jace said.

"Not at all, I just happen to like to stir things up." Clary shrugged, turning to where his voice was coming from.

"We'll be dead soon at this rate," Jace muttered, not making any move to step away from the weapon next to his ear, "At least, dear sister Isabelle, won't-"

At that, Clary threw another knife at Isabelle, landing softly between her legs. Isabelle almost cried out in surprise.

"_Clary!_" Alec fumed.

Clary took off the blindfold, laughing, "I know I missed the vital points, Jace." She gestured to the target, she was previously hitting, "Tell me, what do you see?"

It was true, she didn't hit any vital points but her knives had outlined the shape of the human heart.

"_Mother of Angels_." Jace whispered, in realisation, "You can be so sadistic some times you know that right?"

Clary shrugged, "Maybe…maybe. Want to be my target for practise? Something moving would be more beneficial than a stationary target."

"Totally, my life ambition is to be killed by a pixie." Jace smiled but quickly wiped it away when Clary started to slowly cock her head to the side, as if analysing him. "Did I hit a nerve?"

In an answer, Clary threw a dagger at him, dangerously landing close to his goods and another one nicking his ear. Then somehow the ball Jace had thrown at her, appeared in her hand and she threw it with deadly accuracy _at _his goods.

Jace groaned in pain, sinking to his knees to be met with another obstacle. _The knife between his legs_. His aching goods bumped into it as he sunk to the ground, almost doubling the pain.

"Touché, Jace, touché."

"You know you have to stop doing that." Jace winced as Isabelle and Alec roared with laughter.

"Why? Sad your babies wont be as perfect as you?" Clary tilted her head to the side in mock pity.

"Perfect as me? Clarissa Fray, I didn't know you would think of me like that." Jace smirked, all pain leaving his features, "All you need is to ask and it won't be your weapons aiming at these." He motioned downwards.

Clary couldn't help but smile and shake her head in defeat; sighing she turned around, "I'm going back to my apartment, inspecting what hasn't been obliterated and doing damage control. Plus Simon would be worried - and I did leave him at the cafe."

Before she left, Alec called out, "Wait, Clary! Can you spar with Jace? No one has actually beaten Jace before."

Clary paused at the doorway, her head turned in consideration, "I don't see why not." She turned back around, Alec and Isabelle had their faces lit up in excitement like a six-year old receiving an early Christmas present. Jace openly had a smile gracing his face, "I do confess this will be an interesting fight."

"You just look forward with me on top of you," Jace asked, innocently although a devilish smirk was upon his lips. He laughed at her when she rolled her eyes although she was slightly amused.

When he finished laughing, she said with a shrug, "I'll be sixteen on Sunday," Clary paused, "And you know how unpredictable I can be. Maybe I'll want to be the one on top for my first time."

Everyone was silent.

Jace had widened his eyes to the point, all movement frozen. Alec and Isabelle had their mouths gaping, necks slightly craned forward in astonishment.

Clary didn't look particularly unnerved by their reactions as she walked across the room, she chose her favourite weapon – a dagger of course – and sheathed two of them around her body. Tying her hair back into a messy bun, some layered tendrils making their way to frame her face. Finished, she turned around, "Ready?" She asked to the still frozen Lightwoods.

Jace slowly stood up from the ground, "You don't actually mean that, right?"

"What? Being a _dom_ in bed?" Clary asked, bemusedly, clearly not understanding his question.

Alec and Isabelle recovered by this time and dissolved into another laughing episode, "Clar-Clary is right! She would definitely be a _dom _in bed." Alec snorted between laughs, "That girl is the epitome of insanity."

"Her natural demand for control and excitement," Isabelle added, giggling, "What did she say? _'I'm just trying to create some spark of excitement around here'_?"

Jace regained his composure quickly, breathing in and exhaling deeply as he strapped on his training gear, "I have no weapons, you have no gear that kind of balances each other out."

They stood face-to-face, fifteen yards apart. The redhead taking an offensive stance, whilst the other countering with a defensive, "Fast start, hard finish?" Jace asked, motioning with his head her offensive start, "At least you're not boring."

"In bed too." Clary couldn't help but fire back.

Jace groaned, "I can't believe I would actually say this but you have to stop with the innuendos."

Clary smirked, "What can I say but blame the raging hormones of a female going through puberty."

"Clary, Jace, wait! I want to get a tape recorder." Isabelle flitted off but before she left she took out the dagger, with a considerable amount of effort, out of Alec's shirt.

The two waited, unmoving and holding each others gaze, as Isabelle got the recorder, Alec made himself comfortable. A few minutes later, Isabelle burst through the room with a pink camera in her hand.

"Kk, I'm ready!" Isabelle positioned herself to have a good vantage point of the fight.

"_KK, I'm ready_, too!" Jace mimicked Isabelle.

_"KK_, I'm waiting!" Clary and Alec said, impatiently.

"Can I ask a question?" Jace said suddenly, "Never mind, I'll fire ahead. Who's Jack Sparrow? Is he your boyfriend?"

Clary was taken surprise and almost laughed, "Where did that come from?'

"It came from your mouth at Pandemonium." Jace shrugged, "when you decided to toy with the demon."

"You actually think Jack Sparrow was my boyfriend?" Clary finally laughed and laughed even harder at Jace, Izzy and Alec's confusion. "He's a goddamn movie character from _Pirates of the Caribbean_."

Jace glanced at Clary with an annoyed expression before running himself at her with blinding speed, breaking his defensive stance. Clary was forced to shift stances and sidestepped him to the right, an unnatural movement as her weight was on her right leg. The sidestep threw Jace in some surprise and Clary threw him across the room, using his momentum against him.

In a moment, she was behind him and swept his feet from underneath. Instinctively, Jace rolled to the side as a dagger landed next to his head, "Angel, do you want to kill me?" And he fluidly spun up to a standing position, throwing the momentum into his fist to punch her. It was easy enough to dodge but Clary let him.

The sound of the punch against her face resonated through the room.

The Lightwood siblings were stunned.

Clary didn't loop surprised or dazed, only mildly wincing before cracking her neck, "That was a good hit."

Jace just stood gaping, "You were supposed to dodge!"

"It's good to see you could hit a girl." Clary said, off-handedly.

Jace was left spluttering before Clary moved, jabbed him in the stomach, followed by another jab to the same area before hitting him with a right uppercut to the ribs. Jace's head instinctively moved down as his body caved at the hits to his middle, seeing his head unprotected Clary head-butted him savagely. Jace stumbled back before regaining his surroundings, however, by the time he had done so she was nowhere to be found.

_That was brutal_, Jace thought.

"Looking for a pixie?" a voice said from above. Jace looked up and saw Clary smiling smugly at him. She wiggled her fingers at him, just as he had done so in the café. Then Jace jumped up from beam to beam, standing opposite from her but on the same beam. Clary raised her fists, "And we commence again."

They flew at each other, Clary ducked under Jace's first swing but got up again with enough time to grab it and jump up over Jace. The motion effectively, forced Jace's arm up with enough twist and speed to almost pull the muscles in Jace's arm. Jace gritted his teeth and spun around, slamming a fist into Clary's open spine. Clary staggered forward and Jace side-kicked her in the ribs as she turned around. In retaliation, Clary whammed her elbow into his face. Blow among blow was hit upon their battered bodies.

Until Clary noticed his scar on his left shoulder.

Clary almost froze in surprise, _He…he's a…_

Jace took notice of her sudden hesitation and moved to kick her. Clary grabbed his foot and in everyone's surprise she jumped down, dragging Jace with her through the twenty yards of free fall. In mid-air, she let go and braced herself for impact.

As she rolled to land, Jace's arms wrap around her throat, effectively trapping her into a headlock position. "Looks like you didn't get to beat me up." Jace observed from behind.

Then he felt the edge of her dagger at the back of his neck.

"You were saying?" Clary asked innocently, "Parley?"

"Parley," he agreed with reluctance.

They both let go, his arms unwrapping her throat and the sliver of her dagger leaving his skin. Alec and Isabelle were murmuring excitedly to each other.

"Why did you hesitate?" Jace asked. A light sheen of sweat covered their skins, glistening underneath the light.

"I…" She walked up to him, her hand lightly moving the training gear to uncover his scar, "Just…where did you get this scar?"

Jace blinked, his curiosity spiked at her question, "I don't actually remember, my father said it was something about an accident I had in childhood."

To Jace's surprise, she lightly touched it, transfixed somewhat, "Birthmark…" she mumbled, almost inaudibly.

"_What_?"

Clary snapped out of her daze, "Never mind, I didn't say anything." With some haste, she walked out.

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><p><strong>Clary can only keep up-ish with Jace because of her training with her brother during childhood. Y'know, the one with enhanced fighting skills, so during childhood she was forced to at least be fit to be a match for Jonathan.<strong>

**And she only just realised Jace is a Herondale - why she hasn't told him...I don't know. Ask Clary that.**


	5. Here Pity Only Lives When It Is Dead

**A/N - Don't own nothin :)**

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><p>Clary walked down the path to her apartment, thoughts racing, adrenaline still pumping from the fight and hands still itching to spar. She had to give it to him; it was a brutal fight, her first spar after what… four? Five years? Clary knew he would've won if it kept going but the spar not only warmed up her body…it confirmed inklings of suspicions she was cramming at the back of her mind. That fortunate glance at Jace's shoulder…a mark unique only to one bloodline.<p>

_Herondale_.

Who would've thought her Valentine's second-in-command's son was here? The children of Generals. Wasn't Michael Wayland's _parabatai_ Robert Lightwood…surely he would know his _parabatai's_ son…

_Fate…what a fickle thing._

_What to do?_ She mused silently, her features not betraying the thoughts and emotions within her, _Tell Jace? Confront dear old Robert Lightwood? Background check and further investigate? Nothing at all?_

_Blackmail?_

Something deep inside her seemed to smirk and lust after the idea. Then she sighed, her sensitive ears picked up a faint rustle of movement behind her and without turning around she said, "What are you doing here, Jace?"

Jace literally came out of nowhere, already a step behind her, a silent ghost trailing in her shadow. If he was ashamed he certainly didn't show it, "Well considering the fact you almost died when you fought a Greater Demon and I swooped down from the heavens to save your petite soul…"

"You're going to be my bodyguard?" Clary raised her eyebrows, amusement crinkling in her eyes if one watched her closely and knew her completely.

"Exactly!" exclaimed Jace, over exaggerating his excitement and enthusiasm, "Of course, I-"

"Of course?"

"Because you're…look, two Shadowhunters are better than one against a Greater Demon." Jace said, his excitement quickly dissolving into exasperation.

"Are you saying I can't hold my own?' Clary teased, slightly, "Surely if I could hold my own against you, I could go against anything?"

"Is the Clarissa Fray complimenting one such as I, Jonathan Wayland?" Jace smirked. Clary stayed silent.

_Wayland_.

His entire thoughts were given away as the mirth died in the tawny eyes.

"I'm sorry," Clary mumbled, "For a stranger walking into your life and tell you that your whole life has been a lie." She touched his arm in a comforting way and looked up, sincerity written all over her body language and voice. "I didn't completely think through what I was going to say and I told you in a very detached manner. I was sel-"

"Shut up, Clary." Jace interrupted.

Clary whipped her hand back and looked straight back onto the path they were walking. Hurt, guilt and slight humiliation lancing through her body. She felt herself go rigid and cold, her body's automatic response to defend herself and emotional state. Clary she clenched her teeth momentarily to force her body to loosen up.

"I didn't mean it that way," Jace immediately said, regret tinging his tone when he took notice of her change in posture, "You weren't being selfish, the fact that you told me is all that matters."

More guilt hit Clary hard when she remembered she had figured out his rightful family and name. She forced herself to change the subject, anything to get her mind off the guilt and faint shame. "I used to be friendly, according to my brother in Idris…" Clary blurted out.

Jace glanced at her curiously and also shocked at her sudden confession. He didn't say anything for some time until he asked gently, "What happened?"

"My 'father' happened." Clary said, bitterly, "Ever since his supposed death, my brother was considerably…rough with me. I don't what happened to that nice guy inside him." Clary shrugged but with slight nostalgia for her brother. "Family was so important to me that I believed whoever my family had a problem with, I had a problem with. Yes, of course it's a common thing within families and loved ones but I took it a step further.

Jace hesitated for a moment before asking tentatively, "Is your brother your _parabatai_?" He watched her carefully, looking for any twitch of a muscle or flash of emotion.

To his surprise, Clary let her emotions show without a care for once. And with a murmur she answered, "Yes."

A shiver of yearning, sorrow and somewhat defeat passed across her face before settling on wistfulness. Nothing else but the emotions that had played against her face indicated she was feeling anything else.

Jace looked at her and unbeknownst to Clary, for the first time he saw unspoken emotion of pain, longing and sadness. With her looking _humane_ and _mundane_ for once it brought out her true beauty- not anything sexy (although she was) but passionate, alluring beauty.

Jace studied her furthermore: the fiery intense eyes alight with a burning green, the carroty hair tumbling in messy knots down her petite and powerful body. He drank in every feature of her body that made _Clary_. From the white thin scars almost blending with her ivory, porcelain skin to her lips, always wearing the ghost of a smile. He didn't notice her with raised eyebrows at him. "Checking me out?" Clary smirked.

Jace didn't blink and unashamedly said, "You're different from other girls."

"Should I take that as a compliment?"

"Up to you to decide." Jace said, vague and enigmatic as usual.

Clary raised her eyebrows again in mild interest then sped up quickly towards her apartment building and even more hurriedly up the stairs. Impatience screaming at every silent step. With a bang Clary kicked the lock of the battered and ruined door and with a bang it flung open. Her eyes scanned for demon activity and examining the bombshell of an apartment the Greater Demon (and her) had left under better light.

Her apartment was startlingly different to a few days ago and what she had imagined it to be. She imagined the apartment to be in a mess, the aftermath of an epic fight...furniture thrown in frustration, broken appliances, electricity short-circuiting and sparking from the ceiling. Clary knew she had a tendency to be overdramatic but she wanted some indication of what hell this apartment has gone through and witnessed. Nothing.

Empty. Bare.

The curtains were ripped from the window, leaving the apartment more vulnerable and naked if it wasn't so bare in the first place. No decorations hanging on the walls to bring a sense of liveliness and identity to the apartment. Her kitchen was even empty, as if the Demons had literally took everything from this apartment to use for their own home.

Stripped. Everything from her was taken.

_But Simon. By the Angel…Simon._

"There's nothing here left." Clary said, bitterly. "Nothing here but the ghosts and memories of the past."

"The Sensor doesn't sense enough activity for demons to be around." Jace came up from behind her, a hand lightly on her shoulder as a sign of comfort. His own tawny eyes taking in the strange eeriness of the place.

"Greater Demons…no. Whoever was here has to blend in better and knew mundane appliances and such…Eidolen maybe?" Clary mused. She stood up, "I want to see if they took anything from my room. These clothes are ridiculous on me." With automatic movement to navigate through her house and not waiting for a response from Jace she moved towards her room.

Clary stopped when she got to her door and with slight horror she noticed the dead and sickly stench in the air, "Jace! _Mov_-"

Everything exploded.

Clary braced her body; immediately throwing her arms up to protect her head, knees bent forward to the point she was kneeling onto the floor to maintain her balance and not to be thrown back. She felt the splinters of her door embed itself into her arms and with a grimace she looked up in time to see the Forsaken burst out of her room.

The dead flesh hanging from its skin, brute strength holding a broad-bladed axe and ready to strike disaster. Raw, fleshy and ripped eye sockets, one didn't need to see its eyes to know it was ablaze with craze and savageness, blue lips cracked and blistered. His eyes were set on Clary.

_Fucking Angel and I don't have a weapon._

Clary danced out of the way when the heavy arm swung its axe in hopes of severing her neck. She ducked under his arm, when his axe had stuck the wall next to her. She yelled over the grunts the Forsaken made, "Jace, I don't have a weapon. "

He grabbed her hand and pulled her through the hallway, "Of all the times you just-"

"Shut up, Jace and I have a pen." Clary growled, stumbling after him into the living room, "We have to kill it." She could hear the heavy, leaden steps of the Forsaken quickly pursuing them.

"A pen?" Jace said, bewildered, "I only have one seraph blade on me."

"I'll distract him and you kill him." She wrenched her hand out of his and whipped around, ignoring Jace's protests, "He's fast and strong but we're better."

Clary sighed and with an almost comical exasperation she took out the mundane pen she found in the pockets of Isabelle's, it was complete with dainty and delicate pink feathers. Then with deadly accuracy and blinding speed she threw it at the Forsaken…landing with a sick _squelch_ into his eye.

The Forsaken roared with anger and agony. He swung half-blindedly to any movement he sensed. Clary twisted and dodged his frenzy blows and savage lunges with barely instants to spare. _By the Angel, where the hell is Jace_? She was becoming cornered in her living room between the door and the wall to separating her kitchen and living room.

Then she caught sight of his golden locks, in the corner of her eye as she dodged yet another swing to decapitate her. She heard Jace call out the blade's name and a flash of the seraph blade as it came to life. All of a sudden the seraph blade was driven from behind the Forsaken to protrude out of its shoulder, unfortunately the Forsaken had sensed Jace's movement at the last second and turned out of the way to be fatally stabbed.

The Forsaken swayed on its feet, before suddenly lurching forward arms grasping anything within reach. Jace with a growl wrenched the seraph blade out but Clary was pinned against the wall and the weight of the Forsaken. Clary fought to free her arms, as she felt the Forsaken start to wander its hands. Jace with another savage growl stabbed the almost-dead Forsaken over and over in the neck.

"Jace, just get it off me." Clary said, shakily, feeling the Forsaken start to roll its head onto the top of her chest. "I'm definite it's dead."

Jace immediately wrenched the dead Forsaken off her with a shudder she felt relief instantly. She stepped away from the dead body on the floor with disgust and turned around to rest her head on Jace's chest, a sigh of relief escaping her lips.

"How are you feeling?" She felt Jace's arms loosely drape around her body in a comforting manner.

"As good as someone who feels violated." She mumbled, wearily, into his chest. The arms around her tightened and tensed but she kept her arms by her side, the adrenaline and blood-lust from the battle ebbing away until she felt the pain of the splinters in her arms she had received from her exploding bedroom door.

"Did it harm you?" Jace rephrased with concern.

Clary didn't have the time to answer before a shrill voice said from the broken door, "You better get going if you don't want to suffocate with the demon stench." Clary lifted her head to face the voice, which belonged to a particular old woman dressed in layers of purple silk, neck and wrists filled with gold bands and chains. Madame Dorothea reminded Clary of a swindling hippy.

"Don't bother cleaning it up until a few weeks, the smell won't go away easily." Madame Dorothea advised.

"What does a mundane know about demons?" Jace asked Clary, his arms hadn't loosened, "I thought she was a fake.'

"She-" Clary started, turning her head up to look at him.

"This mundane isn't as stupid as the others," said Jace as if in mock congratulations.

"My, you're observant but you jump to conclusions too easily. The Clave-" Madame Dorothea cut off at Jace's expression.

Jace looked so bewildered Clary laughed, Clary stepped away from Jace's embrace but abruptly stopped laughing when she saw Jace's face morph into an expression of slumbering anger. "You know about the Clave and a _Greater Demon_ in this apartment and you still didn't notify this? I can report your ass-"

"What has the Clave, Covenant, Nephilim or any bloody Shadowhunter based protocol or person ever do for me? What do _I_ owe them?" Madame Dorothea's eyes flashed in irritation, her shrilly voice brimming with defiance.

Clary, trying to maintain some degree of peace, hastily reprimanded them, "_Shut up_," _I never said to reprimand them_ nicely, "and stop arguing. There has been Forsaken and a _Greater _Demon in this apartment, we are not each other's enemies." She growled out, demand for respect leaking through her sharp words, "Now, that we can act like civilised people…Madame Dorothea, do you know what happened to my Mother?"

Madame Dorothea looked at her and minutely shook her head, "No, she's gone. Whoever took her is powerful."

_No dipshit. They managed to summon a Greater Demon to do its bidding._

"What have you heard of Valentine's return?" Clary crossed her arms, "I have a feeling he is…I just need more information." Then she added, "I need to find her and at the same time I can reunite with my beloved father dear, Valentine, and the Greater Demon."

"Clary, I have absolutely no idea…I don't want to build your hope for it to come into nothing but Jocelyn could well be possibly alive if a Greater Demon thinks she has the Mortal Cup."

"This is now an official Shadowhunter investigation. If you don't answer our questions, I'm coming back with the Silent Brothers." Jace interrupted again.

"Oh for-" Dorothea glanced around, eyes looking feverishly for any sign of danger and of anyone listening in, "Come on then, inside. I'll tell you what I can. If you're going to tell anyone about me helping you, you are going to wake up with your muscle turned into fat," –Jace touched his biceps, absentmindedly- "and beautiful purple eyes – iris and all."

"Isn't that a genetic disorder?" Jace said, unaffected by Dorothea's recent threats, "Ahh yes, Alexandria's Genesis. How nice it would be I think. Imagine the funny things I can draw on your boy, Weasel-face."

Clary felt another pang of guild before narrowing her eyes, dangerously at Jace. Then she shook her head minutely, threateningly.

"My Wayland," Dorothea walked briskly away into her apartment, "It amuses me how you can underestimate me."

Jace paled, "How the hell would she know my last name?"

"Jace, you're Jonathan Christopher Wayland, acclaimed hero Shadowhunter of the New York Institute." Clary glanced at Dorothea's apartment; even though the door was closed tightly, unique incense flooded the hall, "Is that blood I smell?" Clary took an experimental breath before muttering and walking into the apartment, "What are we getting ourselves into?"

She heard Jace murmur behind her, "I don't know, Clary. I don't know…"


	6. Can It Be Sin to Know?

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own TMI**

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><p>Madame Dorothea's apartment walls were streaked with astrological posters, curtains lined with beads, one showed Chinese symbols and a poster with an outstretched hand below the words: <em>In Manibus Fortuna<em>. Bookshelves stacked with books ran along the wall beside the door. Everything screamed _swindling hippy_. Clary wondered how many mundanes she had managed to scam and fool. Madame Dorothea was a 'fortune teller' who was 5% right and 95% utter bullcrap and improvisation speech from a divination tutorial.

"How would you describe her now?" Jace's voice ghosted to her.

"A mixture of a monk, fortune teller, hippy and science teacher." Clary murmured, her eyes reading each of the book spines in slight exasperation and amusement.

She felt Jace take her arms and turn them around in the light in inspection, "Your arms are still ravaged from the door explosion." He frowned as he took out his stele, "You should've told me."

Clary didn't say anything but stopped him before he drew an _iratze_ into her skin, "You have to take out the splinters first."

"Well what _questions_ do you want me to answer, Shadowhunters?" Madame Dorothea's head poked out of the beaned curtains.

Clary glanced back to Jace, her expression giving away no trace of pain, "You can pick them out when we sit down." She turned back to Madame Dorothea, "Can you really tell fortunes?"

"My mother taught me a few tricks. She held great talent and could see a person's future in their hand or the leaves at the bottom of their teacup." She turned her gaze to Jace, "Would you like some tea?"

'What?' Jace said, unintelligently.

"Tea: A hot drink made by infusing the dried, crushed leaves of the tea plant in boiling water." Clary explained, "I'd like some tea, thanks. Jace, you're a Shadow-"

"I _know _what tea is, as long as it's not Earl Grey. I hate bergamot…" Jace answered, slight annoyance and embarrassment flickered across his face. He had put down Clary's arms as Madame Dorothea disappeared behind the curtain. "But I was confused because you should get those arms looked at sooner than later." Her wounds were still weeping blood, although it wasn't gushing out.

"You have a terrible habit of interrupting. Do you know that?" Clary asked as Jace looked at the books on the bookshelf.

"I am very aware of that." Jace crookedly smiled, "I like to correct or put my input in before they could get their point across. It'll help them doubt themselves or just shut up."

"I'm guessing being gentlemen isn't going to be one of your traits." Clary sighed.

"I am capable of being the perfect gentlemen it's just that I do not get why we, men, have to be nice to women and women can't be nice to men."

Clary muttered, "You're a lazy sexist gentleman."

"I can hear you, Morgenstern. That sentence is an oxymoron."

Clary's head snapped towards his direction and sharply said, "Don't _ever_ call me that."

"It's your last name isn't it?" Jace blinked.

"It is but…" Clary said softly, _You share the same vindictiveness, the same potential, the same name, the same blood runs through your veins _echoed through her mind. She cast her eyes downward to avoid giving away what she was feeling and thinking.

"What's so interesting about your shirt?" Jace asked, trying to lighten the mood he jokingly added, "It's more normal if you're looking at my abs."

Clary cracked a smile out of pity and appreciation, "Come on, I don't know how long Madame Dorothea takes when brewing tea but you can start taking out the splinters." She held out her arms in surrender and looked expectantly at him.

Jace's lips quirked and brought out a scalpel and tweezers.

"You had a _scalpel_," Clary glowered at him, "And made me use a pen I luckily found in Isabelle's pants?"

"Hey - I just found this in one of the shelves," Jace gently took grasp of an arm, "First, she could be filling her patients' heads with nonsense filth. Maybe even convince them for her to surgically cut up their inner organs and sell them to demons." With smooth precision and speed he took out the splinters, "Who knows if this is even sterile and clean."

Clary didn't even wince, appreciative of the babble Jace was speaking to take her mind off the resuming pain. When Jace finished with both arms, surprisingly fast and neat, and drew an _iratze_ she decided to open up another memory to him.

"You asked what happened to my old _self_ anymore and I told you my brother was abusive to me." Clary looked at Jace as he nodded, they were still closely standing together. She lifted up her shirt just below the bra line and whispered, "_Aperio_." There appeared a long, pale, ugly scar along with the other permanent Marks. It ran the side of her body, obviously going above her shirt and below her waist. It's craggy edges revealed it was inflicted with a jagged blade. Jace inhaled sharply as Clary turned her neck to the right showing the starting line of the scar: just at the trachea.

"Your brother did this to you?" Jace's voice was even but his eyes were shadowed with dark anger and horror. He turned away to face the bookshelves again, his hands itching to hit something. Clary waited until her permanent rune to cover it up again, "Your _para_-"

"Yeah, he did." Clary answered, her hand pushed down her shirt, "Anyway if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be this good at being a Shadowhunter."

A slight pause.

"It'll be interesting if we ever have to fight again. I don't know how far we would go because we are _parabatai_." Jace noticed she didn't say "_because we are brother and sister._"

Jace scowled furiously and even more as he shoved the book back onto the bookshelf, "All these books are trash. There is no serious text here. She's a hedge, a fake."

"Do you think I can sell them on eBay?"

"_What?_" Jace looked confused.

Clary walked up to him, "You have many things to learn, grasshopper." She looked even more amused at Jace' growing confusion. "Do you know what the Internet is?" Jace frowned, furrowing his eyebrows together to give her a _what the hell_ look and she laughed.

The curtain beads rattled and once again Madame Dorothea's head popped out, "Tea's ready, come into the parlour."

"There's a parlour?" Clary asked, "Why would you have a parlour?"

"Of course, I have people to entertain." Madame Dorothea disappeared back into the curtains but could hear the slight annoyance in her answer.

"Well I would gladly tip the hair stylist if she gave me Alex Pettyfer's hair." Jace chipped up, all remnants of his anger and horror had melted away.

"Jace?" Clary faced him surprised, "Is this a mundie you _actually_ know? You know Alex Pettyfer but not Jack Sparrow?" She _tsked_, shaking her head, "I'm disappointed, and it's times like this when I question your sexuality."

Jace grinned, "What can you say, just because I can attract the females _and_ males...no need to be jealous, _oh grasshopper_. I can teach you _all_ about fishing for the men - and ladies if you're into that sort of thing later."

A '_hymph_! welcomed them when they walked through the curtains and into the parlour. "If you were half as funny as you thought you were, my boy, you would be twice as funny as you are." Madame Dorothea was

"What?" Jace asked, once again with a confused expression, turning to Clary for an answer.

"Never mind, never mind." Clary smiled as they took a seat.

The parlous was dimly lit but Clary's eyes adjusted easily to the change in lighting. Shadows scattered across the room, casting dark figures of the stuffed birds and bats dangling from the ceiling. It gave the room a more menacing look, beady eyes of the animals watching your every move, hanging ornaments threatening to fall and attack you from above. A Persian rug, worn and frayed by years of use and flattened by the worn feet of customers, it clouded the room with a faint puffs of dust. Juxtaposing the whole idea of foreboding gloom, was a group of overstuffed pink armchairs gathered around a low table. A stack of tarot cards neatly bound by a silk ribbon, a crystal ball on a gold stand and a silver china set occupied the table. Stacked sandwiches and a blue teapot releasing the aroma of Chai tea.

It certainly wouldn't be Clary's ideal place to entertain guests. Especially for the claustrophobic and asthmatic.

"Do you get a cleaning service here in daily? Because I daresay it's extraordinarily clean!" Jace commented as he sat down, sending another cloud of dust.

Clary nudged him sharply, "_Jace_, don't come screaming to me when you wake up tomorrow with purple eyes." To Clary's relief it seemed Madame Dorothea ignored Jace' outburst.

"Here's the tea that you asked for…" Dorothea smiled, "Milk? Sugar?"

Clary answered with sugar. "Okay, I know about _you_, but I doubt Jace would. I think you would have the honours with explaining to him?'

"Yes, please enlighten me with what exactly are you and how you know about the Clave." Jace asked, "Oh and FYI, 'FYI' means for your information by the way, I hate cucumbers," –he looked at the cucumber sandwiches on the plate - "bergamot" –he looks at the tea- "and liars." He looked critically at Madame Dorothea.

"Oh for the love of the Angel, _Jace_! Has anyone taught you how to be a real gentleman?" Clary sighed, exasperated and embarrassed by his behaviour. Then with a shrug and as if she was punishing him for his appalling behaviour, she grabbed the plate of cucumber sandwiches (he didn't mind anyway). Her stomach groaned inwardly as she felt the beautiful balance of mayonnaise, cucumber and pepper melting on her tastebuds.

Madame Dorothea with an eerie calmness set her teapot down, "Of course. Call me liar I do not care what a rude Shadowhunter like you thinks. I am not a witch but my mother was" –Jace spluttered in surprise and was about to protest until Clary put her hand over his mouth- "my mother adopted me so after her I can watch over and guard this place."

"Guard what?" Clary asked. Her eyes flickered to the faint light behind the black veiled curtain that occupied the entire side of a wall.

Madame Dorothea looked at her and shrugged but something in that shrug told Clary that it would be better to be kept quiet. She took the empty cup and looked at it. "Hmm…interesting but confusing."

Clary raised her eyebrows and narrowed them when Madame Dorothea had said nothing to elaborate, "What do my tea leaves mean?"

Madame Dorothea was silent, staring at the tea leaves, a shadow passing over her face, "You...you won't be here for much longer."

This time it was Clary's turn to shrug, exactly like Dorothea's: better be kept quiet. Dorothea understood and without another word she took Jace's cup, drained the excess liquid and read it, "The usual for the Shadowhunters: violence, bloodshed, enemies…Oh! And great but wrong love _triangle_? Oooh drama, lover boy...

"What do you mean she won't be here for much longer?" Jace demanded, his eyes were alive with a golden fury.

Clary hushed him, "I won't be here for much longer."

"What? You're going to die then?" Jace demanded again, his face morphing into something threatening, "What is here? And is Clary going to die?"

Clary hushed him again, "Not every-"

"Why am I not allowed to know?" Jace growled, "I just want to know if you die."

"Why do you care!" Clary's voice was cold and unforgiving like the winter's chill, "You barely know me or I have existed until a few days ago. I am the daughter of Valentine Morgernstern, the one who made the streets of Alicante run with blood _because of the hatred and disgust he had for anyone that wasn't a Shadowhunter_. I have a brother who is part demon. The same blood that runs through their veins, the same monstrosity. I don't see why you should care for me."

"I don't know if 'here' means physical or maybe she's moving countries." Madame Dorothea's voice was hard, "I _do not know_."

Jace was stunned; more stunned at the realisation of Clary's rant which revealed she saw herself as a monster because of her father's sins and her brother's blood.

"Well this is the first time you've been unsure of yourself, Madame Dorothea." Clary said, her voice losing it's chill.

"Your mind seems to have a block," Madame Dorothea glanced back at the tea leaves in her cup, "A memory block." She grabbed the tarot cards and freed them from the bindings, "Try this, pick a card - any card that you feel is drawing your attention to then show me."

Clary looked at Jace, sceptically and turned back to the tarot cards. She skimmed her hands lightly over the surface and at random she drew one out.

"The Ace of Cards," Madame Dorothea recognised, "the Love Card."

Clary snorted, "Utterly perfect."

"What does it mean to you?"

"It is magic," Clary leant forward onto her elbows, her eyes rolling in exasperation. _Love, what has Love done for me? _"Magic to make the sanest man go mad."

"To love is to destroy." Jace murmured.

"Exactly," Clary clapped her hands together, "Exactly, _exactly_, _exactly_. Glad we can agree on something, Jace. Now, tell me about your friendship with my mother. Dates, bargains, that kind of thing."

"This place is a Sanctuary." Jace realised, "You're guarding other Downworlders and Shadowhunters on the run because this place if off the grid."

"And of course, there is always the last minute escape hatch." Clary's eyes flickered to the curtain, "It's that isn't it?"

"You're all figuring this out by yourselves," Madame Dorothea's mouth twisted into a half-grimace, half-smile, "You must be so proud."

"The Law is hard but it is the Law."

"_Sed lex dura lex_." Clary recalled, she gave a short laugh, "Now I'm guessing my mother was a _criminal_ on the run from the Clave and Valentine."

"And she didn't leave the other night _because of you_." Madame Dorothea wasn't accusing, she just painfully decided to remind her _now_ that it was her fault that her mother was missing as if she wanted Clary to take some sort of responsibility.

"Didn't Jace say, _To love is to destroy_?" Clary was emotionless, no emotion leaked out of her features or her body language, "She destroyed herself because of her love for me."

There was silent, pregnant pause.

"I want to see where my mother would go." In a flash, she had thrown off the black curtains.

Dorothea leapt up with a cry and Jace yelled out in protest.

But it was too late, she had flung herself into the empty space of the Five-dimensional Door.


	7. But For Pursuit of Virtue and Knowledge

**A/N: TMI is not mine**

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><p>Clary would never get used to the sensation of traveling via a Five-dimensional Doors, nor could she say truthfully that she had taken many before. From the faint nauseous feeling in her stomach to the dread of <em>where<em> and _what_ she was going to land on. The second she felt leaves tearing at her hands she caught hold of a thick branch – just barely. Barely seconds later, she saw Jace tumbling down, ungracefully for once. Clary took the time to appreciate his momentary time of being powerless. She winced in faux empathy when he thumped hardly onto the ground, the concrete ground.

_An angel falling from grace._

_Now where did that come from? _Clary thought, amused and concerned at the same time. She gritted her teeth, _To love is to destroy. _Shadowhunters' weakest trait is love - and overconfidence.

Jace stood up quickly, "Clary where are you?" Clary noticed the hint of worry and panic.

"Up here!" She laughed at Jace's surprised expression, her hands still wrapped firmly around branch. She dropped down a few yards with grace Jace's landing lacked, "Why the look?"

"How'd you grip the branch so fast?" Jace spluttered.

But Clary wasn't paying attention anymore; she was staring ahead of her. "It's Magnus' house. Now, why would the Door drop us here? I wasn't thinking of it. You don't happen to know Magnus do you?"

"Mangus? Who's that? Another character from that Pirates movie?" Jace asked.

"Magnus," Clary corrected, patiently then continued as she saw Jace confused face, "As in Magnus Bane the High Warlock of Brooklyn? Mate, I don't know how you survived all the time with a Greater Demon here in the City if you don't know your local warlocks. Wait, how have you not sensed a Greater Demon around here?"

"Don't look at me; I don't do daily night patrols of the whole City." Jace put up his hands in defense.

She sighed, "Well we're here we better check it out." She started walking to the apartments leaving Jace to walk after her.

The door flew open before she even pressed the buzzer and a slender, part Asian man with a shock of raven-black spiky hair greeted her, "Clary, what a surprise?" His tone made it sound like he was asking a question rather than a welcome.

"She just took a happy step out of the Five-Dimensional Door," Jace snorted, disapprovingly, "not caring whether she got impaled on a pole or where she landed."

"_Says _the one that kissed the hard packed concrete," Clary retorted, "You didn't have to follow me."

Magnus looked at them banter with curiosity and the corner of his thin mouth lifted up – but only for a second like he witnessed something he'd rather keep to himself. "Now why are you here? I don't have any appointments I know of."

"Let's just say I'm on an adventure for knowledge." Clary clapped her hands together, "We came from Madame Dorothea's Portal."

"Ahh, Dorothea but no I haven't been to Dorothea's apartment recently and haven't used a Five-dimensional Door either, recently."

Clary furrowed her eyebrows together as if she was in deep thought, "Have you seen anyone dropping out of the sky, yet?"

"No, frankly who would come around here unless they have an appointment – which I don't - or they're going to my _fabulous_ party to get drunk. Too bad that's tomorrow night for Chairman Meow's birthday," Magnus shrugged, "If you want to talk more, come to the party tomorrow."

Magnus was about to shut the door when Clary lodged her foot, "I want to talk about when I first came here- when I was 14."

Magnus had paled considerably, a flash of alarm and anxiety flickering through his features.

"Magnus, old friend, Madame Dorothea seems to think I have a memory block," Clary eyes flashed, dangerously, "Now I'd love to hear all about _that _and why I can't seem to remember anything when I was 12. The whole _year_ actually."

Magnus barely gained his composure and with slight hesitation, "_Tomorrow_. Anyway you have someone waiting for you."

Just then Clary turned her head sharply to the right, after a moment's of reluctance she nodded at Magnus and slide her foot out the door. She turned her head back to the right. Jace looked at her with a questioning look as if to say _What do you see? _Then Jace dove into the bushes disappearing from sight - much to Clary's surprise, "Jace are you _trying_ to be superman-"

She broke off abruptly when she saw Jace's golden head and a very angry voice snarled, "What the _heck_ do you eat? You're freakin' crushing me here, you protrude dicktree."

"Simon?' Clary asked astonished. _What was he doing here of all places?_

"That mundie called me a _dicktree_, by the Angel what is a dicktree?" Jace commented, barely muffling his laughter, "Who calls people a _dicktree_?"

* * *

><p>"How did you get here? How did you know about Magnus?" Clary asked as she picked out the leaves the bushes left in Simon's hair, they were at a nearby but isolated park, "I mean I told you about the main stuff…"<p>

"But not your past." Simon finished, "I know about Valentine but not the details and people involved blah blah blah."

"I don't let anyone know my past, Simon. You should know that." Clary murmured, "After all, I don't trust people lightly. Frankly, I don't trust anyone at all, just me and my instincts." She grinned, "Going solo."

Simon roughly pushed her hands away, "You don't need to style my hair, Morgenstern" – Clary flinched at that name, knowing he only used it when he was severely pissed at her – "Sorry I didn't mean…" – Clary waved him off - "But going to your apartment and seeing everything slashed as if you had a duel with Freddy from _Nightmare on Elm Street_ is pretty freaky then you going missing and probably dragged to the Institute."

"Simon, are you going to keep on going back to movies?" Clary asked, "No don't answer that… you're a geek anyway. But yeah, something like that – duelling a demon and being taken to the Institute."

"And so you decided to make out with a muscly blonde chick then call me? For the past few days I was wondering if you were taken hostage by You-Know-Who." Simon pointed out, betrayal was shown in his face.

"Simon, now you're taking a nickname from _Harry Potter_." Clary rolled her eyes, "Well if I was attacked by a Greater demon, even with my reflexes, Simon, having a Shadowhunter by my side would increase my chances of survival" –Jace grinned – "than a mundane that can only shoot a gun by playing _COD_ or _Halo_." Clary said, exasperated, then her tone changed dramatically. Ice cold fury that made Simon and even Jace flinch, "And I do not _make out with chicks _or anyone I just recently met. Thank you very much. Whether you like it or not I'm not lesbian or a fiery prostitute and slut." She stormed off around the corner.

"And it's nice to call me muscly but not _chick_ – if you clearly can't distinguish the differences between genders; you need to go back to an optometrist." Jace quipped up, "And you don't want to piss off that girl over there." Pointing to the general direction Clary stormed off. "I've seen her fight and hell instead of kissing my ass, she's kicking it."

"You know what I _mean_." Simon said, "She's my best friend and instead for the past days she was spending it with you."

"She was spending it with her friends: recovery and coma – not just me,' Jace answered, "Anyway, what's so bad about me?"

"Nothing, nothing." Simon said quickly and looked away.

Clary came running back, impatience, anger and slight panic masking her face. She pushed Simon into the bushes again, causing Jace to laugh but then he saw her look as if to say _Shutup!_

"What's wrong, Clary?" Jace asked, Clary took out her stele and drew a Rune unrecognisable to Jace, "What's that?"

"Circle members, incoming. Stand still." Clary whispered, rapidly to both Simon and Jace. Jace was starting to go transparent to blend in with the background.

"This is so epic." Simon commented as Jace fully blended with the background.

"Shhh," Drawing the same Rune on herself then she leaned against a tree to get comfortable just in time for three people to walk in; Pangborn, Blackwell and Lucian who stopped a few metres from them.

"Lucian, think about it. We can create the Uprising again – this time Valentine shall win. We just need the Mortal Cup.? Pangborn said.

"Valentine sent you didn't he? To make sure I'm not in the way or wanting me to join him like old times again?" Luke said, gruffly, "I'll stay out of the way but I'm not joining. I do not crave for blood of Shadowhunters and Downworlders."

"We know that.? Blackwell said, impatiently, "But if you're going to stay out of the way, then you must tell the truth. We know how you love Jocelyn for a decade or two, but she's unconscious much to Valentine's disappointed. However, she hid the Mortal Cup. Do you know something about the location?"

"Nothing at all. Sorry to disappoint you, gentlemen." Luke didn't sound sincere.

"She's unconscious and her little bitch is out there with the information in her head." Pangborn snarled, "Where is the girl?"

"Girl?"

"Don't play games with me. We know Valentine raised his and Jocelyn's daughter for the majority of her childhood. When she came here in New York, Jocelyn pretty much disowned her. Disowned but useful as a purpose for a situation like this."

Clary stiffened and widened her eyes, _she disowned me?_

"Frankly, I pretty much disowned her too when she tried to contact me last week. Haven't communicated with her since and I do not know where she is." Luke paled, "Is Valentine searching for her?"

"Yes, there was Greater Demon blood everywhere in the kitchen, but no sign of the girl and the demon hadn't come back yet. Valentine didn't send it until he had Jocelyn." Pangborn informed with a slight irritation.

"He sent a _Greater_ Demon? Jocelyn made Clary's memory wiped of her year here – I do not know her motives but – but," Luke stammered, "Why – did he want Clary dead?"

"No- nearly dead but not entirely. What would a dead person be to use to him?" Blackwell said, "You know she's out there somewhere. Find her, get the Cup from her and we'll trade Jocelyn for the Cup. Valentine promised himself."

"Not interested, I don't care about the Cup for I have no use for it." Luke shrugged, "I'll repeat I don't want to stay in Valentine's path for he hails destruction on anyone who is in the way."

He made a move to leave the park but Pangborn caught his sleeve, "Where are you going then? Out of town?"

"Actually, yes - I want to go out to the country."

"We can stop you, Graymark."

Luke's eyes flashed a feral and vicious danger and he smiled a cruel smile, "Try me."

Pangborn glanced at Blackwell, who shook his head, cautiously, "Tell us if you _remember_ anything at all which could be use to us."

'Don't worry; I won't hesitate to call you.' His eyes were still glowing dangerously and he was still smiling.

Pangborn and Blackwell both murmured, "May the Angel guard you." They drew their hoods up and walked off.

Luke stopped and turned his head slightly to where Clary, Jace and Simon were. Then he suddenly walked off.

* * *

><p>When they were out of sight, Clary whispered, "<em>Aperio<em>." The Rune deactivated and she and Jace were visible again. Suddenly feeling exhausted she sunk to the ground. _My mother disowned me. _

Pangborn's and Blackwell's words were echoing throughout her mind: _her little bitch is out there with the information_.

_What information? Did they think I knew where the Mortal Cup was? _Clary thought grimly, _Well sorry to frustrate and waste your time I don't know where the bloody thing is._

She felt a hand touch her shoulder and she looked up to see Simon, "She wouldn't have disowned you without a good reason, Clary." Simon, of course, was reading her mind.

"Maybe, but she wiped out a part of my memory! She had no right…no right." Clary sighed, "That memory when I got this stupid scar." She pointed at her neck.

"What scar?" Simon asked, stunned, "Clary are you alright?"

"Well she was told her mother disowned her, she's being hunted by Valentine, called a bitch – I don't think she'd mind that though and she now knows her mother wiped out a year of her memory." Jace said, coldly and sharply, "Of course she'll be perfectly fine."

Simon looked at him with a face of pure annoyance and irritation, "I know her _better_ than you so don't think you're like Google – knowing everything."

Jace looked like he was going to answer back but he decided not to, "Well now we know Valentine sent a Greater Demon to get you, so he obviously thinks you have information where the Mortal Cup is."

"Well he's wasting too much time looking for me – I don't know anything." Clary answered, "The Circle is forming again."

"Yes, the men who loved to make the streets of Glass City cry blood including my father's." Jace laughed bitterly then was surprised when Clary snorted.

"Do you honestly believe in that crap?"

"What crap? That my father was murdered by Pangborn and Blackwell?" Jace's tone was cold. Like he didn't believe Clary was being so rude and disrespectful to his father's death.

"Have you been listening to what I've been telling you in the library with Alec and Hodge?" Clary reminded, patience blown out of her limit, "My explanation? No? What'd your 'father' look like?"

"Silvery, platinum hair-" Jace started.

Once he said hair, Clary waved him off, "Yeah I know. You weren't raised by Michael Wayland, Jace."

Jace's face was rigid, stance clenched and tense.

"Silvery, platinum hair? _You don't have silvery hair_." Clary was past empathy and ignored any feeling, herself and others - not caring if she hurt them. This was a truth, Jace couldn't seem to swallow and the sooner the better. "This 'man' under the pretense of father is-"_  
><em>

"I don't care." Jace interrupted, frosty and sharp, "He is the man that raised me. He is my father."

Clary swore violently and with a deep breath, all emotion drained out of her face, "So be it."


	8. I Shall Explain In Simple Words

'No offence to Shadowhunters but this place where you live makes you look like hobos.' Simon commented as he looked at Jace, indicating the shattered windows, trash, rusting metal that gave the Church a unique but ancient and well-used look. 'It's a church and I know they worship stuff in here seriously.'

'Your point, Simon?' Clary asked, exasperated.

'Shouldn't there be a rule about no littering on the holy floors in the Bible since it's so hallowed?'

'Just because you're a Jew that worship in synagogues doesn't mean you-' Clary protested but Jace cut her off,

'Well it's useful to inhabit _holy floors_ to keep the demons off campus and anyway something apart from throwing litter in here could've made this place close down.' He gestured to the yellow police tape.

'Simon, remember glamour? This isn't what the Institute really looks like.' Clary pointed out as they walked into the elevator. When it arrived to a creaking stop, Church was already waiting for them; either wanting to make a desperate escape to the outside world (which was unlikely) or he was being an obedient pet who was waiting for its master, 'Where's Hodge, Church?'

And at the same time Jace asked where Alec was.

'Go to Alec first, I've heard of Isabelle's toxic cooking skills and want Simon to try it before I die of food poisoning.' Clary instructed. Jace followed Church in front of Clary and Simon, 'It's confusing because you've never really been to an Institute. Well really no mundane has been invited into an Institute for centuries but that's not the point.'

'Why are we following the cat?' Simon shuddered and Clary put her arm around him.

'Because this cat knows where everyone is. In your words it's like a GPS.' Clary answered, 'Trust me.'

'Always have and always will. But don't rely on me to trust in-' Simon broke off when he noticed Clary's arm around him.

'Who the cat? I told you to trust me and I trust in the cat.' Clary reassured him then she realized he was talking about Jace, 'Oh that make's sense… I guess.'

'This place doesn't feel right…' Simon trailed, looking around the hallway.

'Well it's meant for the Nephilim-,' Clary broke off, 'Just consider yourself lucky because a mundane never has been inside these walls before. You don't have to stay with me. I'm capable of protecting myself.' She put her free hand to her hip where a hidden blade was there.

'Yes, it's my duty to be beside you.'

'Duty for what?' Clary asked curiously.

'As-as a bestfriend.' And Simon roughly took her arm off and stalked through the kitchen doorway.

'Mundane alert Isabelle.' Clary called out. She could smell soup brewing and something noxious in it. _What the heck did the girl put in the soup?_ She went towards Isabelle who was stirring the soup with satisfaction and excitement – well until she saw Simon.

'Why would you bring a mundane here? JACE! Hodge is going to go nuts!' Isabelle protested.

'This mundane here, who frankly reminds me of an ocelot, insisted that it was his duty to protect Clary who had been raised by one of the greatest and sadistic fighters in history.' Jace shrugged then laughed, 'I want to him do his duty.' He looked at Clary who took a daring and cautious sniff off the soup.

'So it has rhubarb, soybeans, celery _and_ quail?' Clary asked Isabelle who was hacking at the partially burnt quail with her wooden, blunt spoon.

'Yeah, I've been trying to experiment.'

'That's not so bad,' Clary declared, Jace was widened his eyes with a look asking _Are you suicidal?_ Clary shrugged, 'Valentine's given me worse. And yeah, by the way Valentine's back and trying to get the old members of the Circle back – not to make you depressed or anything.'

'Is he part of it?' Isabelle asked and indicated Simon with her spoon, spraying soup bits everywhere in the kitchen.

Simon wasn't offended by the scattered soup bits on his clothes. He was too busy looking at Isabelle with a mouth wide enough to fit a tennis ball without touching any of his teeth. Clary wasn't surprised or annoyed, Isabelle was definitely pretty. With her appealing figure, tall physique, lean muscles and shiny and black hair – she could fit as anyone's type even the nerdy Simon type. Unlike her, the feisty and fire-headed midget. She looked back at the soup and wondered what it would taste like. Whilst Clary was distracted by the soup and her self-esteem lowering as she was standing beside the Isabelle the dazzling diva, Jace was looking at Clary and thought she was beautiful. Just like he was looking at her as they were walking to her shredded apartment.

Clary's voice made him snap out of his trance, 'He's not Nephilim, you already yelled at Jace for bringing along a mundane.'

'What she means is, Simon would be dead already by the time he took a step to get away from us.' Jace indicated to Clary and himself, 'He already knows about our world anyway. Remember Pandemonium?'

Clary was still looking at the soup as if she was starting to be lost in thought, 'I need to find Hodge now.'

And she left the room.

'Ugh, I'll go after her – she's going to get herself lost.' Jace stated and went after her. To his surprise, she was drawing a Rune on Church, 'Clary, you might be going crazy because of what just happened but you don't draw MARKS ON CATS. Whether or not they're strange or not.'

Clary hushed Jace, she had her eyes closed in an eerie calm way with an amused smile and Jace was momentarily panicking if she had to visit Bone City for dementia, 'I'm seeing what exactly Church came to be, you know what I mean?'

'As in his past?' Jace' tone was between, _That's incredibly awesome how she could make a Rune like that _and _Why the hell would she do it on Church?_

Clary stood up abruptly and followed Church as he started down the hallway towards the greenhouse, 'Let me guess, your strategy for demon hunting is: Isabelle as bait, you do the dirty work and Alec is there for backup?'

'How'd you guess? Did you put one of your 'special' Marks on us?'

Clary snorted, 'No I don't use my _special Marks_ if I can determine things. Has Alec actually killed a demon before?'

'No as you say I _do the dirty work_.'

'Yeah maybe if your ego doesn't realize why you've killed more demons than –'-Clary broke off, she was thinking of her brother and his uncanny abilities. But then continued – 'anyone else you've met in your age, why don't you let someone else have a go at demon slaying?'

'He's always protecting his sister and me.' Jace replied shortly.

When they opened the door into the greenhouse a blast of earthly, humid smell attacked them. She had visited all the other greenhouses in the other Institutes she had visited but this one was bigger than all of them. Trees lined the glass walls, vines and green branches were strung between the trees and numerous bushes were dotted with lustrous berries of different shades of the rainbow.

'It smells like…Alicante.' Clary shuddered, and a wave of memories washed over her and Jace had to shake her out of her reverie. Then she went over to Hodge who was lost in thought on the bench, 'Circle members back and called me a bitch, Madame Dorothea not a fake, well kind of and Valentine is looking for me,' She reported, very briefly.

'Tell me with details.' Hodge criticized.

Clary shot him a look saying _Don't tell him about the scar_ then she sat down and started picking at a leaf as Jace retold the events that happened, 'And then we had to bring Simon back here because he insisted that he could protect Clary even though she is a very skilled Shadowhunter.' He finished.

'So the Circle is indeed rising to power once more.' Hodge said, at the end he was very pale and rigid.

'I told you but-' Clary protested.

'The Circle?' Jace cut off, he was confused.

'Oh for the love of the Angel, you don't know-' Clary was cut off again, this time by Hodge.

'Come , I need to show you both something,' Clary was about to open her mouth to say otherwise but Hodge held up his hand, 'Ok, I need to show _Jace_ something.'

* * *

><p>Clary was sitting on a plush sofa, her thoughts adrift while Hodge looked for something that wasn't particularly interesting to her – for now. The gas-lamps flickered shadows across the room. <em>It's funny what flickering lights can do in a darkened room.<em> Clary thought,_ Many think it's haunting but I think it has this calming effect on me._ She realized Hodge and Jace were already deep in conversation and decided to listen until the time was right for her to butt in.

'Clary's mother was in the Circle as well,' Hodge said, 'Not that I think Clary would be surprised.' Who in return shrugged her shoulders but Jace was astounded.

'Why would Clary's mother be in the Circle?' Jace asked.

'Jace are you one of the most oblivious people in the world? How many times do I –' Much to Clary's frustration, she interrupted again. _Men and their sexist and rude ways_, she thought. **(A/N not being sexist or anything- she's talking about Jace and Hodge not men in general)**

'She was Valentine's wife.' Hodge announced.

Clary thought this was a good time to butt in when Jace was speechless and Hodge looked tired, 'DING DING DING! How straightforward do we have to be to get this through? Jocelyn is my MOTHER, Valentine is my FATHER. Finally got it?'


	9. We Must Go Deeper Into Greater Pain

Clary decided to add effect to the astonished atmosphere, well Jace' feeling, she'd pretend that she never knew the truth. So both Jace and Clary were talking at once.

'He was married? You never told me this!'

'My father is an apocalyptic man? ZOMG, I am so telling mother – if she's ever going to wake up.' Then Clary took the role of being a school girl and examined her nails and crossed her legs.

She zoned out again, the past clouding her thoughts while Hodge and Jace were talking about what happened fifteen years ago. Then she stood up suddenly, causing Hodge and Jace to stop their conversation, 'Call the Silent Brothers. I want my memory of what happened here when I was 14.'

'The _Silent Brothers_? You'll willingly give them a pass to fiddle around in your head?' Jace was shocked. But his reaction was totally normal; no one would willingly let powerful men look into your head.

'I do what I must.' Clary answered, still looking at Hodge.

'What was so important when you were 14?' Hodge asked, curious.

'When I first came here in New York, when my brother visited me – had a little conversation which turned violent and when my mother took away my memory of when she disowned me.' Clary said with a deadly calm.

Hodge nodded, 'When I notified the Clave about your presence' –he looked nervously at Clary who clenched her jaw, scared of any violent reaction- 'they asked the Silent Brothers to come and see if they could uncover anything about Valentine, since you were raised by him.'

'Oh so I get it now, since I 'escaped' from Valentine, you want to use me as a tool to know more about Valentine.' Clary remained eye-contact with Hodge with barely contained anger. Hodge was getting pale.

'Clary,' Jace reassured her softly. If things went violent, Jace would certainly kill himself trying to calm Clary down; he knew her skill in fighting, 'Hodge doesn't mean it like that. Valentine is somewhere in the world and is planning to wreak havoc into it. And we need all the help we can get to take down Valentine.'

'If you put it that way…' Clary trailed, starting to cool off, 'Silent Brothers will probably be here by the morning then.' She sighed, a sigh that was like she was about to prepare for combat.

'Yes-' Hodge was interrupted and look irritated. This time by a girl, _Yeah take that, you know what it's like to feel when you can't complete a sentence_. Clary thought, obnoxiously.

'Dinner!' Isabelle hollered, she was equipped with the soup spoon and it looked like she was going to bash anyone who rejected dinner with it.

'What'd you cook this time? Bile mixed with egg yolk and scones?' Clary asked, amused with Jace' and Hodge's horrified expressions.

'You know what? I'm really sorry I can't make it,' Jace said, 'because I have a date with a faerie tonight.'

'And I-I have a-a,' Hodge excused, 'tummy-bug! Demon pox it's really called.' He tried to produce a cough but failed miserably which caused Clary and Isabelle to roll their eyes.

'I fed the soup to Church and ordered Chinese downtown.' Isabelle said.

'Great,' Jace said, 'I always could break the pixie's heart.'

Hodge coughed again and cleared his throat, 'Well, looks like I'm all better.' He grinned nervously.

Isabelle rolled her eyes again and looked at them darkly, 'You guys suck at lying. I recommend not taking a course in acting but Clary here….is testing my taste in cooking.'

Clary sighed, 'Have you actually tasted it before?'

'Oh well, I know all of you don't like my cooking but maybe you should let me buy a recipe book.' Isabelle said, avoiding Clary's question.

'Maybe you should _follow_ the recipe.' Jace grinned, 'Did you order my Fettuccine Carbonara?'

'_Jace_, that's not Chinese it's Italian, even Isabelle knows that.' Clary was exasperated now; she thought of the Shadowhunters in Miami that actually knew how to cook and what food was from where. Jace shrugged and ducked out to eat the Chinese food.

* * *

><p>When the girls arrived at the kitchen, it was filled with the heavenly smell of food and blinding light compared to the dimness of the library. Again, Clary zoned out- she was beginning to feel stuffy and emotionally drained. Isabelle and Jace was discussing whether or not Valentine and Jocelyn's romance was worthy of a movie. Clary didn't care because she couldn't see the love between Valentine: the twisted man and Jocelyn: the woman who'd rather work against her husband than just break off the relationship.<p>

Alec waved his hand across Clary's face, 'You alright? You look kind of tired.'

Clary smiled and instantly regained focus, 'Yeah, just tired.'

Jace was watching them while he was explaining who the Silent Brothers were, 'Clary, I'm surprised you didn't tell Simon about the Silent Brothers.'

'I just told him about Shadowhunters, no need to scare Simon about mind-readers.' She grinned, slyly, 'They can make you imagine your worst nightmares and leave you at it – Happy joyful men they can be. But I do have a few tricks up my sleeve.'

'What do you mean have a few tricks?' Everyone asked at the same time.

'Takes years of practice and I don't think I'd be strong enough to face no more than two Silent Brothers. It's really tiring.' Clary said, 'I'm going for a walk.' And she stood up, pushing her untouched plate away.

'You haven't eaten anything! And you need to be strong- you said so yourself.' Jace objected.

'Speaking like a real parent.' Clary was already walking off.

* * *

><p>Clary was on the street a few blocks from the Institute, she just needed air and space from everyone's prying eyes. That's until a Veiran demons came into view, thinking she was a stupid mundane. Clary grinned then sighed; Veiran demons were pretty hard to kill, since they could multiply unless you beheaded them. She decided to play along and walked up to it.<p>

'I need a ride home and I don't have any cash, could you possibly lend me money?' Clary asked, innocently.

The demon looked down at her, its black hair covered its eyes making the demon look emo, I've got a car up ahead and I can give you a ride.'

She smiled, 'Oh thanks, that'll help a lot. My other sisters are waiting at a pub for me, could you grab them too?'

'Yeah, how many other girls?'

'Just two.' Clary started walking with the demon down the pathway until they were going across the park when he violently shoved her, 'Hey! What-' _Showtime, Clary._

'Get down on your knees, girl.' The demon snarled he had made his tone full of lust and seduction.

When she was on her knees and whipped her arm around with a blade in hand and she sliced off his legs from the knees down. Then as he fell she stood up and beheaded him. The body fell forward and she kicked it as it went into its hellish dimension.

'Well that was easy. Easier than I thought.' Clary declared, and then she saw three more Veiran demons coming from behind the demon she just recently killed. And as they multiplied she swore, 'Oh by the love of the Angel.'

* * *

><p>Everyone was looking for Clary, she was going for a walk and it's been four hours. <em>Who goes on a walk past midnight? <em>Alec thought. And weirdly, Church was missing too.

No one had checked outside.

Oh for goodness sake.

Alec sighed and walked towards the elevator and right in front of it was Church, 'What are you doing here?' he patted him with his foot, 'Where's Clary, Church?'

Church purred and walked in a circle in front of the elevator doors. When the elevator opened, Alec muffled a yell of surprise. Inside slouched on the floor was Clary, covered in demon blood, her blood and sweat.


	10. Smooth the Descent

'Clary, wake up.' Clary heard a familiar voice float through her sleepy mind. She was conscious she was in a bed, not passed out on the elevator floor. She remembered how she killed all seventy-three Veiran demons and stumbled through the sticky night to the Institute – but not how she got onto the bed.

'Alec?' She asked, groggily. She sat upright, quickly to find her shoulders being held down by two strong hands. Her eyes flew open to see a pair of amber eyes staring at her in worry, 'Jace?'

'The one and only.' He grinned.

'You can get your hands off me,' Clary instructed, 'how'd I get here? I don't remember getting to my room.'

Jace looked at her, 'Because you never got to your room, frankly, you didn't even make it to the Institute unless you count the elevator. '

Clary wasn't in the mood to defend Simon, 'I was attacked by Veiran demons,' Jace lifted on of his eyebrows as if to say _How'd you get out of there alive?_ 'Who found me?'

'After your four hour night stroll, Alec found you unconscious and bleeding in the elevator. Gave us all a hell of a shock,' he grinned sarcastically, 'Simon should've been there beside you and it would never ever happen.'

Clary blushed at the thought of looking weak in front of everyone as someone –as hot as Alec- was carrying her, 'I take it that the Silent Brothers are here?'

'Yes, Clary, I woke up in four thirty in the morning just to give you a pretty thing to look at when you wake up,' Jace said, impatiently, 'I want to see that trick up your sleeve, anyway.'

'Okay, get out.' Clary ordered and she went into the bathroom to shower the grit and blood off her. She joined Jace in the hallway ten minutes later, sporting simple but nice attire: denim shorts, a white tee and Converse shoes. She smiled humorlessly as she saw Church mindlessly walking into the wall, 'The presence of the Silent Brothers.'

When they arrived at the library and were greeted with Hodge and Brother Jeremiah. _Typical brother to be cloaked in designs of blood_, Clary thought, smugly, 'I'm just going to give you a tip, I'm not going to allow you full access to my memories from eleven and below. Comprende?'

'This is Brother Jeremiah of Bone City and this is Clarissa Fray.' Hodge greeted.

_This is Jocelyn's daughter?_ Jeremiah said. Clary remained unmoving but noticed Jace shudder slightly at the chilling voice.

'Jocelyn's daughter, my father is Valentine- just pointing that out, _in a straightforward manner_.' Clary explained, she looked at Jace with her eyebrows raised, 'I just want to get this over and done with.'

Jeremiah lifted his hood letting his mutilated head on show for everyone to see. Clary was used to the pictures Valentine had showed her of the disfigured but powerful Shadowhunters. She learned of the names of many of the Brotherhood and even saw Brother Benjamin in Manhattan (under the name of Alana Watson when she was 13), that's why she had to run because she didn't want her cover to be blown, _Let us continue_.

'Clary you don't need to do this if you're not comfortable.' Jace said suddenly, Clary noticed the protective edge in it.

'It's fine, I _want_ to do this.' Clary wasn't looking at him but at Jeremiah, 'Don't be unsatisfied if you can't get the memories passed eleven.'

Jeremiah was emotionless but Clary saw a confident stride as he walked up to her, which made her smile smugly.

_Against one Brother shouldn't be that hard, Clary_. She reassured herself as his skeletal, cold hands reached for her face. She closed her eyes as she saw colors swirl around in her mind, it settled on a cold winter's day on a familiar street that Clary couldn't quite place her finger on. She started clenching her hands as she felt Jeremiah trying to uncover more memories. Her mind fought back at the crushing pressure and she felt her fingernails digging sharply into her hands, drawing blood.

'That's _enough_,' Jace's voice relieved her from the pressure and she blinked her eyes open. She knew she won that one – easier than she thought.

'_Jace_,' Hodge said curtly.

'Look at her hands, they're bleeding.' Jace protested as Clary covered them.

_She is stronger than I thought_, Jeremiah commented as Clary smiled, _you certainly didn't get me to access your memories passed eleven since I couldn't get your memories when you were fourteen_

Clary breathed a sigh of relief: he didn't see what happened in her childhood and at the same time a sigh of disappointment: she still didn't know what happened with her mother.

_That is why she must come to Bone City; she must stand before the Brotherhood_, Jeremiah announced a matter of fact.

Clary groaned she was going to lose this battle- surely. 'I will go.' She said darkly.

Jace looked at her emotionless face, he was pale, 'I'll accompany you.'

* * *

><p><strong>Time Lapse<strong>

Clary had never been to Bone City before- she knew she would most likely been taken and be trialed for memories if the Silent Brothers saw Valentine's daughter.

**(A/N following in Italics is by CC) **Her _first sight of the Silent City was of row upon row of tall marble arches that rose overhead, disappearing into the distance like the orderly rows of trees in an orchard. The marble itself was a pure, ashy ivory, hard and polished-looking, inset in places with narrow strips of onyx, jasper and jade. As they moved away from the tunnel and toward the forest of arches, Clary saw that the floor was inscribed with the same runes_ that she drew.

Brother Jeremiah lead them to a mausoleum, 'Do you shower?' Clary pondered.

_Shower?_ Jeremiah said it was like a word he never heard before.

'You know when a spray of water hits your face?' Clary explained.

Jace laughed, 'I think he knows what it means…' Clary cringed at the thought of never showering in years. She took a cautious sniff at Jeremiah who seemed not to notice and Jace laughed even more.

'Just curious,' Clary shrugged and carried on walking until Jeremiah came to a stop at a long row of more hooded Brothers. It reminded her strangely of the council in _Lord of the Rings_.

The Brotherhood stood up and they revealed their egg heads making Clary slightly wince. _The Council welcomes you, state your name._

'Clarissa Fray, Fairchild, Morgenstern. Choose the last name but I don't recommend-' She saw that the Brothers eyes were closed – if that seemed possible. She closed her eyes and she instantly tensed and braced herself for the battle to keep the important and precious memories kept hidden from the Silent Brothers prying but sightless eyes.

She could feel herself rapidly weakening despite her resilient strength. Short cut-off memories raced across her eyelids; her mother flinching at her whenever she looked at her, Jonathan and her arguing, meeting Simon for the first time and at Magnus house.

Her mental defense was still up but was deteriorating swiftly and she knew she was about to lose. Until the memories came to a sudden stop, she collapsed onto her knees on the floor as if the memories were the only thing that was keeping her up. She was stronger than she thought, but right now she was mentally drained. Fighting and protecting against the Silent Brothers was hard- especially because they were specialized with the mind. Their physical features showed that.

She grinned in triumph at Jace who was much tensed looking at her kneeling on the floor.

She looked at the Silent Brothers, who looked unsatisfied at what they could uncover about Clary, her family and her childhood. She noticed her knees were bleeding when she slumped onto the floor.

_The spell in your head is blocking your memories._ The Council came to a verdict and they stood up and left the room. Only Jeremiah remained, probably only to escort them out.

Jace hurried over and helped her to stand. Clary ripped the bottom of her shirt to use as a bandage for the cut. 'Why don't you use a stele?' he asked in surprise.

'Because I'm not bothered, it won't bother me anyway. And anyway I ripped my shirt already.' Clary said, 'Okay, I want to get out of here.'

Brother Jeremiah looked impassive and led the way out.


	11. Just One of My Sources

Clary rolled her eyes again as Jace swore and yelled at the taxi driver. 'Jace, you were the one that chose to use the taxi.' As Jace ordered the driver to turn left, and he did- in a violent way.

Clary was already prepared for the driver's dangerous driving skills so only her body swayed unlike Jace who was thrown against the window. She laughed and Jace scowled.

'Takis? I don't feel like food, even if it's a bloody steak.' Clary sighed as they got out of the taxi.

'I'm sorry, but _I'm _hungry, there's nothing at the Institute but Chinese and I don't want Isabelle's toxic experiments,' Jace said, 'And don't say Taki's like it's a boring seafood platter, say it with conviction!' Jace then yelled out Taki's in a strong Spanish accent.

Clary gave him a _WTF_ look.

'It's the greatest restaurant in Manhattan after all.' Jace shrugged.

'Despite its poor outward appearance.' Clary muttered.

'Don't judge a book by its cover,' Jace shook his head.

'That,' Clary gestured to the restaurant, 'is not a book.'

'Same rules apply.' Jace retorted.

'I want to go back to Magnus and ask what the heck is going on.' Clary narrowed her eyes and started walking off then she stopped when she heard a voice.

'Hey! Where's Clary going?' Alec inquired Jace.

'She's on a desperate mission to uncover her past,' she heard Jace reply, 'so desperate she doesn't have time for food.'

Clary sighed, turned around and walked back. _How do they get any demon hunting done here if they keep having pit-stops? _When she caught up to the guys she bitterly said, '_Clary's_ going to Taki's.'

'Izzy is bringing the mundane, which can't even stop drooling over her.' Alec notified, 'the typical mundane who falls into a pool of stupidity whenever he sees a pretty girl.'

Clary ignored him and asked, 'Can we just get breakfast over and done with?'

Jace and Alec grinned and nodded at the man at the door to let them pass, 'You speak as if you already have been here.' Jace said.

'I haven't been here, I've ordered from here. Everyone knows about me and I don't want to cause a fuss in busy places.' Clary told them, 'Now that the Clave and the Institute know about my whereabouts I'm not bothered to keep low.'

'The Institute as in us?' Alec asked.

Clary nodded in response, the few people in the diner were looking at her as she took a seat and she sighed- again. Then Clary widened her eyes as she saw one of the men- or Downworlder, looking at her with curiosity.

'Well, I could imagine what faerie food would do to humans,' Clary looked at Jace, 'I'm guessing you've already tasted one of their exotic fruits?'

Jace was gaping at her, 'How'd you know?'

'I got my sources,' and she glanced at the familiar Downworlder.

Alec smiled, 'Do you remember-' and he launched into a story. Clary was watching him, there was this vibrant energy she's never seen before, _and a certain look Alec gave to Jace_. Clary was now amused, she realized as she observed him that he had this vibe and was 'coming out of the closet'. _What a waste_,' She thought as she looked at Alec's features, _only available to the gentlemen._

She saw that Alec was keeping us with the vibe, however Jace looked like he was mildly interested and even interrupted him, 'Can we get our order yet?'

The energy faded.

Clary looked back at the menu, Isabelle and Simon walked in and slid into the seat next to her. A waitress came by, 'The usual?'

Alec and Jace both chorused in a 'yes'. Isabelle ordered a fruit smoothie, Simon and Clary asked for a coffee.

'Let me out,' Clary nudged Isabelle and Simon. When she was free from the limited spacing the table and bench gave, she walked directly to the man. She felt four pairs of eyes watching her every move. She slung an arm around the lone werewolf's waist and murmured, 'Marc, what's new?'

The man in return put an arm around her, 'You'd probably know but Valentine is officially back,'

'Hush,' Clary whispered, 'I already know that and the Circle is rising again.' She tilted her head closer to limit their conversation volume.

'This might get you interested,' Marc muttered, 'Your brother is also back but he's staying low.'

Clary groaned, 'That is new.'

'What are you doing here in public anyway, puella?' Marc asked, amused.

'As you can see I got caught by the Institutes and they notified the Clave,' Clary whispered back, bitterly, 'a wolf is not usually alone, where is your pack?'

'Back uptown,' Marc answered, 'monitoring the vampire clan there- as usual. I got your call and you are in need of a dress suitable for Magnus Bane's party?'

'I have business with Magnus and he told me to speak with him during his party- which is tonight.'

Marc handed her a flat box, 'We still are in debt for saving my pack.'

'Thanks, Marc,' Clary said and kissed him on the cheek and went back to her table.

Isabelle didn't look too interested; Simon was watching Clary, Jace looked amused but had this tense vibe to it and Alec wolf-whistled softly which Clary laughed at.

'Who was that?' Jace asked finally.

'Just one of my many sources,' Clary answered with a shrug.

'A werewolf?' Alec asked, amused.

Clary nodded and broke into a grin as the food was served, 'Alright, we're going to a party held by Magnus Bane ze Magnificent Warlock tonight, kapishe?'

'Oh wait, I have an invitation I got from one of the Downworlders in Pandemonium – said it was going to be a blast.' Isabelle shuffled around in her bag for her invitation.

'Magnus' party is always a blast,' Clary muttered, she would always dress up to make herself unrecognizable, anyway she didn't want to miss out on the fun.

* * *

><p>The party wasn't until midnight so Alec and Jace had disappeared into the Institute, Simon and Isabelle was out at Central Park to look at the pixies and Clary had decided to do some training. She had leaped onto one of the highest beams and was doing balancing exercises whilst pondering.<p>

_Why did my mother disown me?_ She thought angrily, _and she can't just run around wiping out memories like they're not important!_ She to do turns and flips on the wire, thirty-feet high. _And I want to know how I landed here; when I was thirteen I was travelling from Institute to Institute and then BOOM back at Alicante to be adopted by my mother and then a gigantic time lapse to her house. _

Clary didn't know she was up there for the whole day until the twilight started to drip through the room, darkening it. _Time went faster than I thought_.

'Clary!' she heard Isabelle call, 'Where the heck are you? You need to get ready for the party!' Isabelle walked into the training room in her silvery and sequined outfit.

Clary jumped in front of her, causing Isabelle to jump. 'Okay, get the box,' she pointed to the gift Marc gave her, lying on the floor, 'I need to take a shower.'

* * *

><p>'This dress is absolutely smoking!' Isabelle squealed as she held the box, 'How do you have very rich friends?' <strong>(AN Clary's outfit on profile)**

'Through business,' Clary smiled, 'and apparently they owe me.'

Clary pulled the dress over her head: it was a black, strapless dress. And one of her favorite types: a high, low one.

She sat at Isabelle's clattered vanity table and she watched Isabelle through the mirror. Isabelle was twirling her hair into a graceful bun, she then moved onto putting blush, mascara, eyeliner, gold eye shadow and red lipstick.

'You know, you look sexy and classical at the same time,' Isabelle commented, 'No sexual feelings intended.' as Clary was putting on her red Christian Louboutin Larissa pumps.

'Bait and fisher at the same time,' Clary grinned, 'don't freak out but…Alec is gay right?'

'Yeah,' Isabelle squeaked, she was sounding very upset.

'Jace doesn't know, doesn't he?'

'Not that I know of; he thinks we're all oblivious but look who's talking,' Isabelle blinked.

Clary thought she'd better drop the subject, 'Do you have a thigh- sheath?'

'Yup, heaps,' Isabelle said, grateful Clary didn't press on and she disappeared into her closet.

* * *

><p>The boys were waiting for them in the entry way. They were wearing black, even Simon, who Clary thought didn't exactly suit Simon like Alec and Jace. Simon was looking at Clary, with a look of absolute astonishment.<p>

Clary raised her eyebrows, 'Why do you look so shocked? You're used to me wearing slutty clothes. Remember? Demon fishing.'

'B-but it doesn't look you.' Simon stuttered.

Clary rolled her eyes; she had found her mini leather jacket – complete with four blades and looked at Jace for a verdict. 'The werewolf got you that dress?'

Clary nodded.

'It suits parties rather than demon-hunting.' Jace ran his eyes up and down her body, making her quite uncomfortable.

'I'm partying tonight, not business.' Clary said, 'Although I am confronting my warlock friend.'

Alec, Isabelle and Simon were already waiting in the elevator for them, Clary turned to join them. 'Wait,' Jace instructed, Clary turned back and he reached over, pulling out the bobby pins releasing it in waves –whilst his amber eyes looking directly into her emerald eyes.


	12. Wisdom Never Lies

Clary was trudging behind the group, complaining mentally to herself. _It would make everyone's life easier if I just drew a portal to Magnus'._ _But no. Everyone wanted to abide the law and take a midnight stroll through the heat._

_Well it's not my fault I couldn't make up the law._

'Walk faster,' Jace muttered, who fell in step with her, 'you're pissed and I don't want you running around killing demons.'

'I'm perfectly capable of keeping my cool and what's so bad about killing demons?' Clary said, still irritated.

'There's nothing bad about killing demons but last time you went out by yourself you managed to almost kill yourself.'

'But last time I went out by myself I managed to get out alive.' Clary shot back.

'Barely.'

'But still alive.' Clary said, stubbornly.

'By the Angel, you're stubborn – sometimes I go back to that night when I met you-'

'And what? Wished you weren't there? Never met me?' Clary interrupted, eyes narrowing, 'If you feel that way then-' she wouldn't let Jace respond, her voice raising – making sure the Lightwoods and Simon could hear her, '- well I'm sorry you met me, found out I existed, took up your time, space, life…whatever! I'm sorry I told you the truth of your upbringing and who your biological parents were. 'Cause consider yourself lucky if you actually did meet me, because when I saw out Pandemonium I could _sure as hell walk out leaving you oblivious to my existence._ I'm sorry' –Clary grew quieter, '- that I'm warming up to hope and trust. And now I know you regret being my friend.'

Jace blinked.

Then breathed out, 'Woah, you're harsher than normal. And I don't think creating Portals is the problem here.'

Clary's eyes grew hard, 'Every single person I've met with and decided to trust has shoved that trust back in my face. Magnus had been there for me and now after years I learn that he's erased _one year_ of my past. Simon's good and all but he's a _mundane_ and can't understand what I've been through without comparing me to some nerdy movie. Magnus was the only person I've told any of my secrets to – apart from you guys, and that's only two! He actually understands..' She turned her head to Jace, 'Would you give up on trust if the only person that understands you backstabs you?'

Jace looked at her with warmth, 'I-'

'Guys! We're here!' Isabelle called out, obviously excited for the party.

'I think everyone deserves a second chance,' Jace breathed down her neck, 'And I never ever would regret meeting you.' Clary glanced up and her lips twitched up in a sign of thanks.

'Jace! Think we're at the right place?' Alec yelled out, Jace looked up.

Clary grinned slyly at Alec, then she walked faster obviously spotting something. She disappeared behind a black van, Jace heard her laugh coldly.

'Of course, Magnus being Magnus invited vampires.' She said then she grabbed one and led it a little further away from the others.

'Clary? What are you doing?' Simon asked, you could hear the worry in his voice.

'Emergency escape.' She shrugged.

'So you're _stealing_ a vampire bike?' Alec burst out.

'They'd probably blame it on werewolves,' Clary shrugged. Then she knelt down, took out her stele and started drawing on it, 'Visible to only Shadowhunters.' she explained.

Isabelle broke their fascination of the vampire bikes, 'Hurry up! They're pretty yeah but I care more about this dress and wanting to show it off.'

'I'd rather show off that bike,' Clary muttered walking towards the entrance. She banged on the door.

And it flew open, missing Clary's face by millimeters.

'There's a doorbell, I put it there so you wouldn't bang on the door.' Magnus purred out.

'Well let's say my friends are here to have fun,' Clary's tone was serious, 'But I on the other hand…'

Magnus stiffened as realisation dawned on him, 'All right then come in. You,' He looked at Clary, 'don't slaughter my guests. You-' He turned to Jace, '-don't do anything _stupid _with my guests. You-'Indicating Isabelle, 'don't do anything stupid with the _mundane_. Mundane' –he didn't even bother to look at Simon, 'can leave anytime soon seeming you don't actually _belong_ here. You-' He purred, 'can call me.'

Clary coughed.

They walked in, Isabelle whispered to Jace, 'I know your way to piss off anyone who talks to you, but please do anything you can and don't piss off the warlock…he won't help us if you do.'

Clary looked at them, her face was still serious, 'Oh yes he will.' She turned to Magnus, 'Where's the birthday cat?'

'Oh you remembered…I don't know. I lost him.'

'MAGNUS BANE,' a voice yelled out…which belonged to vampire midget that was glaring at Magnus, 'someone stole my bike! It's gone! Disappeared.'

'Gone?' Magnus muttered, 'what a pity. Guess he'll have to take the public bus.'

'Who did it? The invitation said no mutts would be here.' He was walking towards the warlock.

'It isn't the wolves fault you misplaced it.' Clary smiled, smugly.

'What did you _say_? Who do you think you are, Nephilim?' The vampire growled.

'Katerina Graveheart and I said, "It isn't the wolves fault you misplaced it."' Clary greeted, a fake smile was plastered on her lips.

'Look _Katerina_-'

Clary looked at Magnus expectantly – who looked exasperated – 'He's about to threaten me. May I now _deal_ with him?'

Magnus cocked his head, 'Look you're annoying me so why don't you go run off, meet with werewolf leader and sign a deal so they wouldn't not to steal your bike.'

'What he's really means is: It's not our bloody fault that you have problems with the wolves. And seeming that Magnus didn't actually invite _any_ of them, he wouldn't know of their actions. So really if you want to blame anyone…it's yourself.' Clary explained brightly, 'Plus he really wants you to piss off.'

Magnus shrugged, 'Guess what _Katerina_ says is true.'

The vampire roared with frustration.

And Clary laughed.

'This little girl is just-'

'You're really calling me little? I mean I'm actually taller than _you_.' Clary interrupted, 'I mean it's like your time of the month or something. We don't care about your precious bike so that leaves... Go. Away.'

Magnus sighed, 'You've worn out the welcome. Good bye.' And with a flick of his wrist the vampire froze, turned and walked out the door, 'You little red head bastard, seeing by your smug smile you did didn't you.'

'Harsh on the words. But I'd like to talk with you privately.' Clary's smile was gone, replaced by a cold mask.

'_We'd_ like to talk with you privately.' Jace and Alec were still standing beside Clary.

'And all hell breaks lose.' Magnus muttered.

'She disowned me didn't she! Then she was felt so freakin' guilty she decided to erase one year from my mind. Yeah, way to cover it up.' Clary's voice was rising.

Magnus looked at her, 'No she didn't disown you. She disowned Lyra.'

'Who in the bloody world is Lyra?'

'Oh so you _don't _know.' Magnus' cat eyes widened, 'God this is going to be harder than I thought.'

'I know enough.' She growled. Jace and Alec were just watching Magnus and Clary shoot back retorts at each other like a tennis match…no more like shootout.

'Lyra is your subconscious.'

* * *

><p>I might change the story title in the future because my friend thought it was pretty gay.<p> 


	13. All Hell Breaks Lose

'Oh that makes sense. What's yours? Gandalf?' Clary narrowed her eyes.

'Okay let's put it this way…your subconscious is like another person that can actually take over you body.'

'So I'm like twins smashed into one body?' Clary slumped back into her chair and crossed her arms, 'And anytime _Lyra _wants she can take over.'

'You can put it that way.'

'So what's this got to do with mother disownment and crap parent love?'

'You were born Lyra- she has black eyes like Jonathan- Jocelyn freaked because she hated your brother and what he was. She was scared you were like that too. No one knows why the fact your subconscious could take over your body and have an uncanny ability to heal rapidly without any Runes-'

'Lyra can freakin' heap?' Clary cut in sharply.

'-and you know your skills in battle and combat. So pretty much Lyra is the most dangerous human, species the heck you are on this planet.'

'Lyra would be flattered to be called most dangerous on the planet,' Clary said bitterly, 'but what does this have to do with her first coming here?'

'I think Lyra is triggered by severe emotional and mental trauma, exactly what you face just when you first came here. Lyra came to say hello and murdered nine or ten victims – oh by the way it was declared a cold case earlier this year. Jocelyn neglected you thinking you were a deranged murderer. I mean I don't blame her you should've seen the mass overkill. Blood soaked every inch of the bedrooms of the victims houses.'

'Doe's Lyra have any sense of humanity?' Clary whispered, shell-shocked.

'I believe not.' Magnus answered, sincerely.

'So even though she's mean and somewhat cruel there's an even…inhumane and darker character than her?' Jace demanded, 'Oh joy.'

Clary ignored him, 'Keep going.'

'When I removed your memories Clary came back in her redhead glory.' Magnus finished.

'You're telling me this _now_?' Clary demanded.

'You never asked.' Magnus shrugged.

Clary was about to scream an insult at him but suddenly looked tired and sighed, 'Just in case if you didn't know Valentine's got my mother.'

'Mmm, heard about that.'

And just like that she got up and left.

Downworlders swarmed around Clary, 'This place is packed.' Jace, Alec and Magnus caught up with her.

'Where's Isabelle?' Jace asked, 'We don't know what Downworlder would grab her and eat her.'

'Isabelle is capable of defending herself, sexist pig.' Clary rolled her eyes.

'Oh and how about the mundane?'

Clary was still drinking in the truth about her mutilated mind to care, 'What a good friend I am, not caring whether or not he's going to go high and make out with a faerie.'

Alec started waving, 'Isabelle here!' calling to a black haired girl who was pushing her way through the crowd.

Isabelle was panicky especially when she saw Clary, 'Simon's turned into a hedgehog.'

Clary was snapped out of her insensitiveness, 'Oh great. Exactly what I need.' She grabbed a pass byer's drink and downed it, 'Well we're just going to find Simon. Damn it, Simon!'

A drunken faerie looked at her, 'Oh girl are those space pants because your ass is way out of this world!'

Clary clenched her fists, 'Oh boy, these are rugby pants, cause this ass is way out of your league.' She slapped her, 'And this is a dress you drunk dyke.'

Then she saw what was perched on the faerie's soldier, 'Simon, there you are!' she breathed out in relief. She lifted her hand to the Simon- the- hedgehog and it crawled onto it. She put the hand to face height, 'You are giving me a headache. And I'd rather not get one or else I'm going to get arrested for mass murdering.' She looked at the others, 'What the heck am I going to do with Simon?'

'Throw him away,' was Jace's instant answer.

'_Jace_,' Alec muttered, 'not a good idea to piss her off now. You could put him in your purse.'

'Or I could just draw a portal, y'know.' Clary reminded.

'_Clary_, you we can't.' Isabelle was getting exasperated. _Huh I'm exasperating everyone today. Funny. _Clary thought.

She decided to go with Alec's suggestion and put Simon in her purse, 'Okay I'm out of here.' But she made no move to go.

'I need to find my cat,' Magnus told the gang, 'Okay you know what. This was crap party without Chairman Meow. EVERYONE GET LOST.' He demanded to the whole party.

Everyone was trailing towards the exit, 'Ooh Shadowhunters,' a vampire grinned down at Clary, 'Did you hear Big Daddy Valentine is back.'

'I know he is,' Clary answered, irritably, 'seeming that I'm his daughter.' The vampire widened his eyes as Clary narrowed hers. Then he sauntered off when they got outside.

'Leeches,' she said in disgust as Jace appeared by her side. Then she realized, 'By the Angel that bloody vampire took my purse – with Simon in it!' she practically screamed, 'I'm going to murder him.'

'You're actually going to walk into a vampire nest?' Jace exclaimed, surprised.

'Done it before with my brother. I can do it now.' Clary answered, walking towards the stolen bike, 'Go with Isabelle and Alec, this is going to be personal.'

'Alec, Izz! Go ahead,' Jace yelled to them then turned to Clary, 'Let a lady go by herself? Of course not.'

* * *

><p>Sorry it's short but I don't think I did too well. Promise the next chapter would be good and long<p> 


	14. Fight or Flight?

'Do you have to ride so fast?' Jace mumbled as Clary swung her leg over the car. They already loaded up with weapons.

Clary raised her eyebrows, 'My driving is fast?'

'And she doesn't even know it,' Jace commented to himself, 'I mean I haven't actually ridden that fast.'

'Oh you should – especially fun if you go along Highway 1 at 210 kilometres per hour. Well tonight is an emergency and it's a few hours to sunrise.'

* * *

><p>'Ahh I guess we're going to have to break in and enter,' Clary was already walking around the corner, 'Have you ever been in a vampire nest?'<p>

Jace looked at her and an unspoken question hung in the air: _are you a deranged land squid?_

'I'm taking that as a no,' Clary muttered, 'where would an exit be…' Then she turned lightning flash, swung a blade out and threw it right behind Jace – missing him by hairs –width.

'By the Angel-' Jace hollered, surprised.

'Is this how you greet curious people?' a heavy laden Spanish voice asked, 'By throwing daggers at them?'

_He stepped forward, out of the thickest of the shadows. The shape of him evolved slowly: a boy, not much older than Jace and probably six inches shorter. He was thin-boned, with the dark eyes and honey-colored skin of a Diego Rivera painting. He wore black slacks and an open-necked white shirt and a gold chain around his neck that sparked faintly as he moved closer the light._

'As a matter of fact, I greet any person who creeps up on me on a dark night _by throwing daggers at them._' Clary answered, flatly.

'Está usted tratando de entrar?' The boy's tone was just utter astonishment.

'Her pet crawled in here,' Jace muttered, loudly.

'Su mascota es un idiota.' The boy commented.

'I know he is,' Clary growled, 'Can you get us in?'

'We don't care how much the vampires pay you, she just wants her pet back.' Jace said, faint uncertainty could be heard.

'You know what we are and I can easily tear this place down,' Clary stated as they followed the boy.

'Confident are you?' The boy laughed and he opened a metal grating.

'_Very_.'

Jace jumped down and Clary followed she looked up to see the boy and she nodded in thanks. But he jumped down.

Clary groaned, 'Alright then, you're down here and I want you to lead us.' And he did up the staircase and into a big ballroom the sides were layered with balconies.

Clary turned to Jace, 'Careful he's…' she hissed under her breath but was cut off when she saw his facial expression.

'The boy's gone.' Jace whispered, 'Bloody vampires.'

'Raphael,' Clary called, in a taunting matter which Jace raised his eyebrow, 'I knew who you were the moment I saw you. Stories whispered of a boy named Raphael…disappeared. I'm not that stupid seeming I came here a few years ago when I was fourteen.' Then she did exactly what she did outside: spun and threw a dagger.

A growl of agony came behind Jace and he in turn spun with a lifted a crucifix just as Raphael pounced on him. His hand touched the crucifix and he shrieked in pain and surprise. Clary wasn't helping Jace though she was watching the balconies as they filled with the undead. That moment Jace had his fist bunched up with Raphael's shirt and Clary somersaulted over them and held a blessed knife at his throat, 'There's too many for you to handle,' he grinned, 'Guess you were _too_ confident.'

The vampire audience erupted in giggles.

'We're two teenagers that were brought up by a bloodthirsty and Downworlder hater. He made the streets of Alicante weep blood. I think I was confident enough,' Clary smiled, savagely, 'And I knew what you were when you were following us a mile away from here. I wanted you to come seeming I would need a hostage, just in case your precious nest decides to show up tonight.'

Then she smiled even more savagely as he realized who her father was. Raphael called out, 'the girl means it. Clarissa Morgenstern means it.'

The laughter stopped and a blonde vampire commented on one of the balconies, 'I didn't expect her to be a red head.'

Clary's eyes turned brutally hard, she looked at Jace – who chuckled knowingly and he took up Clary's position.

Then she threw she was holding right into the blonde's heart. Snarls echoed throughout the balcony.

'Anyone else want to join him?' she taunted.

'The Covenant doesn't cover for you, you stepped into our territory willingly-' an Asian girl stated.

'Because you have my friend; he's turned into a hedgehog.' Clary interrupted. Then she looked at one of the guys on the balcony, 'And you have it.'

A guy with a green mohawk jumped down, 'Aw man, I'm so soz.'

'I don't want the apologies I just want him, or we're going to kill Raphael right now.'

'You're going to kill me anyway,' Raphael protested, squirming, 'you came here just for a pitiful mundane. How is he so _special_?'

Then Simon being Simon, bit the drunk vampire causing a commotion which distracted Jace. Raphael took the opportunity to bite him scratch him down the arm and disappeared into the crowd.

At the same time, Clary took the chance to dive into the vampire crowd and lash and slash her way towards Simon. The Asian gripped her shoulder and she flung a bottle of holy water right into her face. She screamed in pain and she lost her grip. Simon the hedgehog jumped from the mohawk man's shoulder and landed in her hair.

Clary looked up to see vampires flying down from their balconies, and she saw Jace battling his way to her. Then Raphael spun her around and held her in a death grip, 'You bitch,' he snarled his eyes were the color of the abyss, 'You're going to see my face when you die.' He flung her onto one of the balconies as if she was a beach ball. Clary landed in a painful thud and was held up again. Simon was still, miraculously, gripping her hair.

'This is a pathetic way to play with your victims,' she noted, 'I mean even a mundane can do better than this.' She stared met his eyes with her piercing ones.

Raphael growled but she continued, 'You're just throwing me around and I hear mundanes burn, mutilate and rape.' She spat in his face, 'And you think mundanes are pitiful.'

'If you want _mundane_ you'll get mundane, Morgenstern.' Raphael sneered and he covered her mouth with her face.

Jace yelled out her name and Clary bit in Raphael, blood poured from his hand. He shouted in surprise, she had one more vial of holy water left and she smashed it with his hands. Then she clawed him across the face and got the only weapon she had left: a gun. She put the gun to his forehead as he writhed in pain.

'_Stop!_' she commanded to the crowd below and all the vampires froze as they saw their master at gunpoint.

She saw Jace climbing the balconies and joined up with her, 'I think it's time to leave,' he whispered.

'Agreed,' and she backed away from Raphael the gun still trained on him. Then without any warning he pounced with blinding speed. He knocked the gun out of Clary's hand and he lunged for Jace's throat. Clary tackled him and bit him again this time on the neck. An instant later, a gunshot rang through the hotel.

And Raphael slumped backwards, unconscious with a bullet through his head.

Blood dripped down Clary's mouth and she spat in disgust, 'I think we should be good now.' The vampires below were still frozen.

As those words left her lips, the windows exploded inward showering everyone with broken glass. Wolves sprang from the windows and were growling at their foe. Shock, disbelief and terror ranged from the vampires faces.

What the hell?

* * *

><p>They whirled around to see Raphael not caring about them but looking down at his enemies, 'Cómo te atreves a venir en nuestro LAIR?' he screamed in rage.<p>

Clary glanced at him, 'If you want them to answer your question you might have to try that again in English.'

'_Clary_. Let's go.' Jace tugged on her arm.

'He looks familiar,' she pointed at the leader, the biggest wolf.

Then Simon jumped down and started running, 'Oh by the Angel, what now?'

Clary and Jace took pursuit after Simon, which was leading them to a wall. Then it hit her…it was a door.

'Give me your stele,' she demanded to Jace and he wordlessly handed it over. She drew an Open Rune and the door pretty much blasted open, 'Keep going,' she yelled. The spiral staircase was creaking and groaning in protest as they sprinted.

They reached the top, barged the door open and she laughed, 'Bikes…of course.'

'Clary right now isn't the time to laugh.' Jace looked at her with an amused expression.

'Go ahead, I'll slow them down.' Clary instructed and she turned back to the door.

'Clary-'

'_Go_, I'll be fine!' Clary looked back at him, 'Oh and I need you stele.'

* * *

><p>Jace was on the bike waiting anxiously for Clary when he turned back to Clary who was running and a few meters away were vampires <em>and <em>werewolves, 'Clary what have you done?' he groaned, then he saw the vampires heading his way. It didn't take a genius to work out that they were going to reach him before Clary did.

Fight or flight?

Clary screamed at him which sounded like go and catch.

Jace revved the bike and drove off the edge; he was falling when he saw Clary jump off the roof – to his utter horror. 'By the Angel,' he whispered. _Catch. _He remembered in his panicking bike was hurtling through back up and he caught Clary with his hand.

It took Jace all his focus to lift Clary and control the bike, 'What the hell was _that_?' he demanded.

Jace could hear her laugh, 'You caught me.'

Jace breathed out a sigh of relief; he didn't know he was holding his breath when Clary took a leap of faith off the building.

She looked up and saw faint rays of light, 'Oh my God, Jace.'

'What?' They were over the East River, and then he realized and froze. The bike was spluttering and coughing.

Clary was drawing on his arm, 'Hold on to Simon very tightly, okay?' she instructed.

'What-' Jace spluttered.

And just like that she pushed him off the bike and she could hear him cursing all the way down.

'You'll thank me later,' she muttered and she grabbed the bike's handles. She barely had time to prepare herself for the onslaught as the bike tilted and struck the asphalt of the parking lot, front wheel first. It shot forward and turned violently, and skidded over the uneven ground with striking force – sending the dress in tatters. Then it flipped and she was hurled into the air and slammed into the side of a truck. Clary felt her tired body crumple into a heap before rolling over onto her back. She coughed, she was tired, bloody and probably half – naked.

She saw Jace and Simon running towards her, 'Oh by the Angel, Clary…what were you thinking?' She heard Jace moan when they reached her.

'Clary, oh my god!' Definitely Simon she thought, 'Are you okay?'

'Yes, mundane. She fought a vampire leader in a vampire lair, jumped off a ten-storey building and now is in a bloody, half-naked heap. She's _definitely okay._' Clary heard Jace say, bitterly, 'Why did you put that Mark on me, but not on yourself?'

'Oh the Slowfall Mark?' Clary grinned, faintly, 'One: I lost your stele, sorry when I put on you. Two: I wouldn't have enough time after I pushed you off.' She paused, 'Si? Are you okay?'

'Well I look better than you do.' She heard him reply.

She was still lying down, 'Jace, I need to ask you a favor.'

'Clary, you bit a vampire and saved my life twice tonight. Be obliged to ask me a favor.' Jace sighed.

'Can you carry me?' Clary asked, sheepishly, 'I…' she broke off already sinking into darkness but she was conscious enough to feel Jace's strong, comforting hands wrap around her and press her close.

* * *

><p>Translations:<p>

Está usted tratando de entrar?: Are you trying to get in?

Su mascota es un idiota.: Your pet's an idiot.

Cómo te atreves a venir en nuestro LAIR?: How dare you come in our LAIR!


	15. Quickly Arrests the Gentle Heart

Clary woke up in the infirmary; all the stinging and aching sensations she had recently felt had disappeared. She could hear Jace and Hodge arguing outside. Correction: Hodge arguing and Jace probably shrugging it off, coolly.

Alec came in, in a raging storm. For the first time Clary saw him so angry. She sat up and looked at him expectedly.

'You've been a nice friend and all…' Alec started, 'You know what I'm going to cut to the chase,'

'Yeah you do that,' Clary responded.

'I think you should go. Go away.'

Clary looked at him, was he serious? She thought Alec was kind and patient –not like this, 'You're joking? You want me to go back to home which a Greater Demon almost killed me?'

'Do you have any relatives, maybe they'll show you some hospitality.' Alec pleaded.

'You know what?' Clary shoved the blankets off her and stood up, 'My only relatives I know left is my mother and she is _missing_, captured by my own brutal father and sick brother – so unless you want me to get tortured and twisted by them. Then go ahead and kick me out but if you plan to do _that_ – you will first to say to everyone else's faces, that you want to send me back into my _relative's_ hands.' She looked with him with cold eyes, 'And hospitality? It seems everyone wants me here _including_ the damn Clave.'

'After you almost get Jace killed? Why-'

Clary laughed, coldly, 'Almost get Jace killed? Whose the one being treated right now? Oh look it's the one talking.'

'You run into a vampire nest! Have you ever done that? I bet not!' Alec protested.

'As a matter of fact I have with my brother.' Clary retorted, smug.

Alec widened his eyes, his argument was backfiring on him, 'You still brought him along!'

'Look, I told him he didn't have to. And another fact is that I actually saved him!' Clary was losing her control, 'He wasn't the one that had to jump off a ten-story building and he didn't have to be on the motorbike as it fell out of the sky!'

'I'm his _parabatai_ so I'm the one that's supposed to watch his back and save him.' Alec growled, 'You're not even supposed to be here.'

'If you can't deal with someone other than yourself saving your _parabatai_ then you are so selfish,' Clary cried, 'I'm Nephilim, so I _do_ belong here.'

'You're a freak with two minds smashed into one body,' Alec snarled, 'You have a mutilated and dangerous mind. Magnus said you were one of the dangerous people in the world, maybe we should get rid of that threat.'

She flinched slightly at his harsh words, 'You,' she laughed, surprising him and herself, 'are so _blind_. You're just scared shitless that Jace is going to fall in love with me. Is that it? That you're going to lose everything you've done and worked for. Then I'll tell you this, he thinks he can _save_ the world and he may even die trying. So if I'm international threat, he's probably going to give me the killing blow himself.' She whispered the next words in a taunting way, 'Don't be scared, Lightwood.'

She saw him going to lash out and she let him. He slammed her into the wall and growled, 'If you ever talk like that to my family, I swear on the Angel. I'll kill you.'

Clary's eyes bore into his, 'Count yourself lucky, I'm leaving after tonight and you won't need to see me again.'

Alec slowly released his grip and stalked out of the room but before he left he muttered, 'I know, you have till dark – that's in three hours before you turn vampire.'

Clary blinked, she's had countless death threats before but not by her own kind and her first death threat from them swore on the Angel.

* * *

><p>She was struggling to get the last gulps of holy water down her throat in one of the spare rooms when someone knocked on the door.<p>

'Come in,' she said, faintly.

Jace to her surprise walked in, 'Simon's with Isabelle. Isabelle's probably using him as a Barbie doll,' he looked around the puddle of holy water, 'have you got it all down? It's night.'

'Yeah barely,' Clary said, hoarsely. Jace threw a tank top and shorts, 'Umm, thanks?'

She got up and changed in the room's bathroom, 'There's a thousand rooms here and you managed to find me.'

'Seeming that I know this place and lived in this place reasonably more than you,' Jace paused, 'it was pretty easy. And if you don't want to be found, you won't be found.'

'Touche,' Clary walked back into the room, 'I don't think I'm a good influence on the Institute here… so I'm avoiding this place.'

'Correction, you're avoiding Alec.' Jace said, calmly, 'Your birthday's tomorrow, you're hungry and you want to avoid Alec. So the kitchen isn't a good idea so…' he showed her a picnic bag, 'A picnic in the greenhouse for the birthday girl?' He slightly hesitated.

Clary grinned, 'Why not? I'm starving, avoiding Alec and in need of some kindness.'

* * *

><p>'Idris,' Clary breathed in the smell of the flora that was beautifully placed around the greenhouse, 'Thanks I've never really celebrated my birthday before. In my childhood years, usually a new weapon but that's it really.'<p>

'That's it? Seeming that we were brought up by the same man…you said you had friends,' Jace mused, 'I didn't have any.'

Clary looked at him, 'When I say friends I mean Jonathan and Valentine.'

'Would Valentine know of your…' Jace trailed off.

'Lyra?' Clary said bitterly, 'Probably, most likely. I'm a freak with two minds mashed in me.'

'You're not a freak, you're just unique,' Jace said kindly.

'I'm a dangerous threat to the world, yes?' Clary asked, and Jace nodded uncertain where this was going, 'And we know how you'd love to save the world…'

'No Clary-' Jace started, horrified.

'Whatever happens and Lyra goes out of control, you're going to have to do something about it,' Clary whispered, 'Don't let me do anything to my family – and you know who I'm talking about not those sick bastards. Whatever happens… I'll forgive you.'

Clary was looking down, Jace whispered back, 'Only out of control but don't expect me to give you the killing blow.'

'Why not?' Clary mumbled.

'You're nicer, it's like you're coming out of your cold shell.' Jace commented, softly, 'More free-spirited, less cold. You smile more…it's a nice change.'

Clary smiled, 'Thanks. Oh, it's the Midnight Flower…one of my favorites in Idris.' Jace and Clary watched it bloom.

'We should go, it's getting pretty late,' Jace stood up and put a hand up to help Clary stand.

'I'm too graceful to trip over,' Clary stood up and tripped and to her embarrassment she brought Jace down with her…

…and he landed right on top of her.

'Maybe not-' Clary was cut off by the intense glare Jace was giving her. Clary gulped she was getting kind of uncomfortable with Jace's knee in between her legs and his arms were either side of her head. She should've known it was coming.

He was kissing her. His lips were at first hard on hers, then they softened and Clary was kissing back. She was vaguely aware he had sat up and wrapped his arms around her bringing her along. She was vaguely aware that she was straddling him; she curled her hands into his golden hair. He deepened the kiss and his hands lightly traced her face.

Then she pulled away, she didn't realize she had closed her eyes when she fluttered them open, 'Hugo's here,' she grinned. For the first time in a very long time she was bubbling with happiness.

And Jace smiled when he saw it.


	16. Vulnerable

'Are you seriously pointing a _gun_ at me?' Clary exclaimed. She was sitting on the bed when she got back to her room from her picnic with Jace and then Simon storms in a few minutes later with a gun trained on her at point blank range as he stood over her. 'By the Angel, this night is getting interesting.'

'Yes, this is an illegal gun. I play Call of Duty so I have had practice and seeming that you're practically a world-class assassin I think it was better to talk to you with a gun.' Simon said, matter-of-factly.

'Why in hell would you have a gun to talk to me?' Clary demanded, 'if you're trying to intimidate me into anything, it's not going to happened unless you're happy to shoot your best friend in the face.'

With one hand he took two pieces of ripped paper from inside his jacket. 'Looks like Jace has competition.' Simon commented, stiffly as he showed her.

Clary widened her eyes in recognition and then realized why he felt reassured with the gun in his hand. The first one was of Jace. The other of her brother, when she had imagined him older.

'What the hell is your problem? You actually considered ripping out pages from my diary?' Clary said, icily, 'And what do you mean competition?'

'To me, it looks like he has someone to compete for your heart.' Simon retorted, he tried to hide the jealously in his voice but was failing miserably, 'Is this your childhood sweetheart? Boy next-door crush? Mundane admirer I never knew about? Lov-'

'It's my brother I imagined what he would look like when he would be older.' She interrupted her voice was icy. A scary icy. A scary calm. Like you were walking along thin ice ready to shatter at any moment.

Simon blinked; his confidence was going down when he heard this. In that fraction of time, Clary got up whilst gripping his arm, so as she got up he went down. Simon stumbled by the force and face-planted onto the bed; she twisted his arm back and grabbed the gun. She pointed it up towards the ceiling, cocked the gun and pulled the trigger.

Nothing.

Clary laughed, drily. 'Well, shall we talk?'

'I-I…' Simon gulped.

'If it was anyone else, Simon, I would've punched them where the sun never shines.' Clary threatened, 'But seeming you're my best friend, I don't want to. Now, what do you want?'

'I see the way you look at him!' Simon burst out, 'I-I've stayed loyal ever since I laid eyes on you.'

'What do you mean, Si?' Clary asked as she got off the bed.

'Haven't you seen what I've been trying to do! Hanging out with Isabelle, all those flirty comments just to make you notice ever since you got winded up with Mr. Oh-So-Sarcastic-Six-Pack-Golden-God.' With each word Simon's tone got nastier.

'Oh…no. Simon…' Clary moaned backed away until her back hit the wall. Simon actually liked her. As in liked, liked! Her best friend and all those memories. Who was she going to turn to if her mother was frustrating her? Simon knew her better than anyone else and she thought she could actually trust him to be a friend…not a lover. 'You can't Simon. It's not going to work between us. You're a brother to me and –'

'Why the hell won't it work? Because I'm a mundane?' Simon yelled, 'Clary I-'

_Please don't say the L word,_ Clary begged in her mind, she was crumpling to the floor.

'-love you. Ever since, I saw you lying on the grass, watching the clouds float by at the park.'

Clary screwed her eyes shut, _this can't be happening. My best friend is in love with me and I'm really that stupid not to see it coming. We had a great friendship and he just had to like me back._

'Madame Dorothea said I'd suffer a tragic heartbreak.' Simon commented, bitterly as he walked towards the door, 'Guess she was right.'

A few minutes later, Clary sat up. An idea, a thought, an assumption had popped into her head despite the shock and confusion.

'Looks like I'll need a nice walk.' She nodded to herself, almost insanely.

But first she had to do a few things.

* * *

><p>Jace woke up the next morning, feeling stiff all over. When he opened the door a note fell off the door and fluttered to the floor.<p>

_You'd probably stop me so I just left this note. I'm going to play hero and save my mother. I think I know where the Cup is. It's at the hedges._

_-C_

Jace was now stiff and pale all over. Clary… was being an idiot not a hero. To go out there and retrieve the Cup, for all he knew Forsaken or even worse Valentine could attack her.

He ran towards the smell of burning toast.

* * *

><p><em>How could I be so stupid?<em> Clary thought angrily as she knocked on Madame Dorothea's door_. I had spent entire afternoons watching my mother paint Madame Dorothea's tarot deck! I even personally asked what color the cup looked like. And why would Simon go to Dorothea for a _fortune_?_

'Clary!' Dorothea swung the door open, 'I have been sick worrying about you! Where did you end up?'

Clary walked in, uncaring if she was invited or not.

'Magnus' apartment.' She said, bluntly. 'Anyway, I think my mother had put something very precious in here.'

'Your mother didn't put anything here.' Dorothea said, confused.

'No, but I just want to see your tarot deck. My mother just painted an artifact into it, without your acknowledgement.' Clary answered, matter-of-factly.

'Oh…okay,' Dorothea disappeared and came back, 'Which one?'

'The one with the Cup,' Clary said, impatiently, 'Ace of Cards.'

Dorothea handed it over without questions but one: 'What artifact is that?'

Clary drew the Rune over, she had saw when she was crumpled on the wall last night. 'My mother just drew the Mortal Cup in your card deck.' And she lifted the Cup as if to show her evidence.

'I…I don't know what to say…' Dorothea murmured. 'All these years… I presume you want to get back to your murdering friends. Portal?'

Clary narrowed her eyes, something about Dorothea was off…it's like she was hasty to use the Portal, 'Stay where you are!' she commanded.

But Dorothea skipped over and threw open the Portal Door. Then she was shrieking like a banshee, her body was mutilating and twisting grotesquely…into the distinct shape of Abbadon.

Clary didn't waste a second later, she ran out of the hall and into the foyer.

…and hit her head against a wall.

A golden and black wall.

A wall with a face of Jace.

'Clary…thank the Angel you're safe.' Jace hugged her but she drew back. Hurt flashed in his tawny eyes. A stern Alec and relieved Isabelle stood behind him.

'No…Abbadon is-' She started but was interrupted by a loud blast behind her. The door and several bricks around it had exploded like a bomb.

Clary was thrown upwards, seeming she was the closest to it. And Jace was thrown against the other two.

Abbadon with his talon's scraping against the rubble was (I guess you could call) it slithering on the floor – his gruesome eyes trained on Clary…and the Mortal Cup in her hand.

'Little girl, I do not like being deceived.' He taunted.

Clary could barely stand, she was mentally and physically exhausted from the last few days, plus the lack of sleep and now she was blown up. Clary was a great fighter but she wasn't immortal.

'I do not like being called _little_.' She rasped as she took out a dagger.

She flung herself and sunk her blade into Abbadon's neck. Abbadon howled and threw Clary into the wall.

Jace yelled and with Alec ran towards the Greater Demon. Isabelle covered for them by whipping away the Demon's reaching arms and deadly talons.

Jace managed a few swift blows before getting slashed at. Alec spun his feather staff, jumped and struck Abbadon across the face.

Abbadon was beyond enraged.

His talons drew three bloody lines across his torso; the strength behind it was so great it threw Alec into the wall, landing next to the drained and struggling Clary.

Isabelle screamed and tried to run to her brother but she met the fate of her two friends: she was backhanded into the wall and trapped by the falling bricks.

Clary coughed blood, 'Jace…the sun.'

Jace barely registered what she said: firstly, he was too dazed to see both of his childhood friends especially his parabatai at the mercy of the Greater Demon and two: Clary had spoken a tad too softly.

He registered but didn't understand. He had flung his last weapon at the Greater Demon and it's hand that was reaching for her.

However, to Clary's wonder and surprise someone did understand her.

Hodge of all people! Didn't he have the curse to prison him in the Institute? Jace and Clary were beyond confused and disbelief.

He was in the state of mind to actually bring a weapon, aim it at the miraculously crack-free and whole window and fire.

The morning light streamed through the whole disastrous room. Abbadon screamed in agony as his disfigured body exploded in flames. The smell filled the room with burning flesh and a ghastly stink.

'I managed to find a way,' was all Hodge said to answer their unspoken questions.

He lifted Alec and brought him into Dorothea's damaged apartment and Jace freed Isabelle then helped Clary limp with them.

'We'll go through the Portal, it's the fastest way to the Institute. I called your friend, Simon, to meet us there.' Hodge said, quickly, 'Alec and Isabelle should go first then Clary with Jace to follow.'

When Alec and Isabelle stepped into the Portal, everything happened in a blur. Hugo came out of nowhere and struck Jace with enough force to knock him out. Hodge pushed Clary and with a cry she went into the Portal.

Which didn't bring them to the Institute.

But to Magnus' house.

Again.


	17. I Sung of Chaos and Eternal Night

Magnus was there on the other side, like a chauffeur waiting for his passenger to come. Magnus – despite his incredibly thin state was carrying the unconscious Alec to his place and Isabelle and Clary helped each other follow them.

'Jace has been kidnapped,' Clary burst out, weakly when she collapsed onto the chair, 'By Hodge.'

Magnus muttered a curse word but then preceded to carry Alec into a room, 'Well the conceited bastard is long gone and I have to fix up this boy in my arms.'

'_Hodge?_' Isabelle repeated, she wasn't paying attention to Magnus, 'Hodge-'

'Yes, Isabelle, I said Hodge as in the thin guy with grey hair and a beaked nose whose been cursed to remain at the Institute. That Hodge,' Clary said wearily. Isabelle was trying to get her question out but was too shocked to say it in intelligible English, 'Hodge pushed me into the Portal, Hugo knocked out Jace and now he's been kidnapped by your very own mentor.' She paused then added, 'That's why I don't trust very easily.'

'Why? Where?' Isabelle managed, apparently not remembering that they were in Dorothea's apartment a few minutes ago.

Clary got up deadly calm and started to draw healing and restoring Runes on them. She had to do something useful or else she'd most likely smash and tear down the room in a fit of anger. 'Why? I'm assuming for Valentine. He was his inner Circle and I bet Valentine told him he could remove the curse – which he did. And where? Who the hell knows?'

The door kicked in at that moment. Magnus came running out to see who the intruders were, 'Heavens, what on earth was that?' – but stole a quick glance at the visitors - 'Oh, you got my call. Break my door down again and I'll you'll become _werecats_.'

To Clary's amazement (she was getting amazed a lot in the last twenty-four hours), Luke walked in – with two other unrecognizable people, 'So a kidnapped boy, three injured Shadowhunters, a stolen Cup and reports that this was Valentine's business.'

'You! You owe me a pretty dang good explanation!' Clary demanded standing up, 'Give me a _very good_ objection on why I shouldn't pounce on you, _this instance_.'

Luke raised his hands in surrender. He very much did not want to trigger the wrath of Valentine's daughter, 'I wanted to pro-'

'Do _not_ give me the 'protection' crap.' It was very clear that she was fighting with herself not to grab him into a headlock, 'I can handle myself very well – and you know that.'

Isabelle and Magnus, sensing a clash of the titans, sat down and watched them amused. If only they had popcorn...

Luke sighed, 'My past with Valentine is still affecting the present. And I never want to cross paths with him…I didn't want to do anything with him. So when I heard he was coming back, I declined any offer of service.'

'Yeah, service to help him.' Clary spat, 'Pangborn, Blackwell?'

Luke was hurt – it was conveyed all over his face but Clary didn't care, she was sick of lies and deceit, 'I- I declined…'

'And declined to help Jocelyn? Or me? But then when you hear I'm hurt, you come over like a worried father.' She narrowed her eyes, 'You. Are. Not. My. Father.'

If Luke wasn't hurt before, this was like an innocent puppy being kicked into the curb, with steel toed Doc Martens. Then all hurt faded from his face and he darkened with anger and... disgust? 'Why would I want to be a father to Valentine's scum?'

'Last time I checked Jocelyn was my mother, who also gave birth to _me_.' Clary's tone was the calm before a chaotic storm reigning destruction worth billions, 'I _dare_ you to say that to my mother.'

Luke paled, to Clary's satisfaction. End of argument. She was in no mood for verbal attacks and battle of the wits.

Magnus cleared his throat, 'Well we do have other visitors to host.' Indicating to the two people standing behind Luke. One was a woman and the other was a man. They were both middle-aged, like Luke and wore comfortable sweatpants – which they still looked good in – and cotton shirts.

Greta and Alaric.

Clary tightly smiled, 'Greta. Alaric.' She nodded tersely towards them. Their eyes widened slightly in surprise, 'The other pack, the Duarte's, told me all about you guys. I need to know my environment, y'know.'

The Duarte pack were on neutral terms with Luke's pack, but were still cautious of each other. Sometimes, when a pack asked for help, the other would back them up – usually against a nest of vampires. Turf law or whatever. Plus their hatred of the bloodsuckers.

It was Isabelle's turn to clear her throat, 'Well we do actually need to get the Mortal Cup back, and Jace.'

Clary swallowed, 'Okay, Luke. You've been one of the longest here, anything that could point us to where Hodge would've gone? The Circle is rising again - he'll be going back to Valentine. Hodge equals Jace and Mortal Cup which equals Valentine.'

'I've done my research; the Blackwell's owned a place – an island in fact, here in New York City. It's abandoned and has a mental facility on the southern end, Renwick's.' Luke responded, grimly.

'What's to be down about? You would of possible saved Jace's life. Scratch that – you would've avoided a possible world annihilation of demons and evil Jonathans.'

Luke didn't look any happier.

'Now. Call your wolves...ladies and gentlemen; we're going to war. Again.'

'No surprise there,' Magnus commented, 'Shadowhunters - their life is dedicated to war. And I have to play the sexy nurse.'

* * *

><p>They had to leave Magnus to babysit Isabelle and Alec. It wasn't their fault though, Isabelle was too tired to go down Magnus' stairs. In fact, she fell headfirst down the stairs.<p>

_She's unconscious now. You can't do anything_. Clary thought as she lurked in the hospital's shadows.

The rundown hospital loomed above them. The windows were a fathomless black, like it was daring them to go into an inescapable maze. Weeds choked out of the bricks. Most mundanes would be too frightened to take the challenge of the ghostly facility but they weren't mundanes.

She was inside, swift and silent. The rest of the pack was outside fighting the horde of Forsaken. She wanted to help but her job was to infiltrate and capture with Luke.

Rooms upon rooms were empty when they checked. Clary was going to scream in frustration. _Who knows what Valentine is doing right now? Her mother strapped to a bed, screaming for help. Jace Marked against his will for unquestionable loyalty towards his master. Hordes of Jonathans being called for service. Her actual brother, in flesh and blood, waiting for her return..._

However, when they opened the next one. It was her mother. On a bedroom, asleep.

'She's under a spell, Luke.' Clary notified, 'It may be a trap.' _I was close, apart from the 'screaming for help' part._

Luke wasn't paying attention though, he was having a mental fight whether or not he should tend to her or think the situation through carefully. The 'weakness' for her won. He rushed forward, ignorant to Clary's protests and warnings.

'Clary – go on and find Jace. This is a...personal situation.'

Clary raised her eyebrows in surprise but didn't question him further. Clary gave him her last blade, 'You may need it.' She hadn't been able to go to the Institute yet, and couldn't get any extra weapons. Then she left the room with a knowing smirk.

There was a flicker of movement upstairs when she reached a stair case, leading up and down. Without hesitation she went up, in search for Jace and the Mortal Cup. The stairs led to a room, a room lit with candles – contrasting to the darkness of the rest of the building. When she entered, it was a breath-taking sight, like she had stepped in a Portal to the past. Though, the room was decorated entirely differently to the other rooms she had been to. For a second, she wondered if she did step into a Portal – it had warped her into another place. The delicate china sitting upon a long dining table, waiting for a visitor to come and dine. The far wall was filled with two large oil paintings and a wide mirror. The room was lightly breezed from the large wide windows dressed with heavy velvet curtains. And there, standing as if he had all the time in the world, was Jace, looking out the window. He was playing with two blades, absentmindedly.

'I run through an abandoned hospital,' Clary announced her presence that startled Jace, 'to see you just gazing out the to the river like you're planning your honeymoon.' She breathed out a sigh of relief, _Thank the Angel__, he's not delirious or posessed._

They ran toward each other and Jace wrapped his arms around her, 'Oh Clary, what are you doing here?'

'Saving your ass.' She mumbled back into his shirt.

'Alone?' Jace ended the embrace and held her in away in arm's length to give her a lookover for injuries, 'Clary…' He said, sternly.

'Jace…' She answered back in the same tone, 'Luke and his pack came with me. Anyway, back in the day, I've slaughtered vampire nests before only with my brother and look, I'm here still alive.'

'The wolves are Luke's?' Jace was astonished, 'You have to call them off.'

'What? Why?' Clary was taken off guard. Then she took in his appearance: white cotton shirt, bandaged arm, bathed, the ring on his finger. 'What happened to you?' She refused to believe Pangborn or Blackwell bathed him and went shopping in Barneys to get Jace fresh clothes.

'My father gave me these clothes.'

'Who? Michael? Stephen?' Clary asked.

'Michael, of course. I was raised a Wayland.' Jace was starting to get confused, 'Stephen is dead, the Uprising remember?'

Clary wasn't listening, she was mentally cursing Jace for not understanding her before but before she could do or say anything, someone stepped into the room.

A certain someone with platinum, white hair.

Jace caught Clary's intense glare at his father, 'Clary – this is my father.' He expected her to be warm and understanding but all he got was a scoff.

'Jace! Haven't you been listening?' She scoffed, 'This is not your father – just a filthy, lying man who raised you under a false name.'

Jace gave a muffled and confused protest, 'What?'

But Clary paid no attention to him but the man in the doorway, 'Long time, no see, _daddy_.'

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry I haven't been updating – I'm the utterly the worst writer in the world of Fanfiction but I've been dealing with…a lot.<strong>

**End.**

**What a cliffie!**

**Don't worry I'll update very soon.**

**Like now.**

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><p>'I see that you have matured just like your mother, Clarissa.' Valentine commented dryly, closing the door behind him, 'But you have no weapon.'<p>

'Already looking for a fight, daddy dearest?' Clary spat back.

'So you're Valentine?' Jace's voice was contorted with anger, 'You lied to me again?'

'Surprise, surprise,' Clary muttered, 'The happy family reunion. Mother is under some spell like a princess downstairs, we're exchanging embraces…where's Jonathan?'

'Around, waiting...' Valentine answered off-handedly. He sat down on one of the seats at the dining table, 'The Mortal Cup, I'm guessing you're in want of it? But do you actually need it?'

'You should be asking that to yourself.' Clary sat down across from him, 'We, however, need it to save the world from utter devastation.'

'Clary…' Jace started, softly – major bipolar move to what he had been acting less than ten seconds ago- 'It was Hodge all along, when he attacked you and kidnapped me. He was hell-bent on lifting his curse so he wanted the Mortal Cup as a bargaining chip. This isn't about world annihilation. It was never Valentine.' He moved closer to them and put a knife back into his thigh sheath and one on the table - faraway from both Clary and Valentine.

Valentine winked, 'You should listen to the boy.'

'By the Angel, how did you brainwash him?' Clary cursed, 'Jace, have you ever though how Hodge actually get out of the Institute in the first place?'

Jace was startled as if the thought of Hodge's curse just occurred to him.

'And you,' She stood up and death stared Valentine. If looks could kill, he would be skinned alive to the point of near-death, then castrated and finally hooked up by the teeth on the Statue of Liberty. 'Stop feeding Jace lies! When have you actually done something for someone out of selflessness?'

'Clary!' Jace thundered, 'Do not talk to him like that. Do you have no heart at all? He's taken care of me...'

'Jace! Just shut up! You don't know anything.' She stormed back, she was completely frustrated - seeing Jace like this, going against her like this because of the stupid lies, hurt. She portrayed her feelings by storming at people. 'Get your own mind sorted.'

At that moment, the door barged open, exactly like what happened to Magnus' door. Luke burst through the hanging door. His shirt was splattered with bright, wet blood. 'Oh God, you're still alive.' Luke breathed, 'Valentine-'

'Is in this room,' Clary snarled, 'Brainwashing Jace and the Mortal Cup. What exactly happened to Hodge?'

'He went back to Alicante,' Valentine said, nonchalantly, 'Back home. Luke, you're covered with blood, mangled I see.'

'Pangborn, mangled, I saw to that.' Luke grinned like a Cheshire cat for a second.

To everyone's surprise Clary laughed, but it was devoid of humor, 'The bastard is finally dead. You have no idea how harsh he was when he came and visited, back in the days.'

'_Clarissa_,' her father growled but his tone gave away his grief for his friend.

'Clary, _go_,' Luke commanded her, 'This is my fight.'

She shook her head, 'And not mine either? After all, it is that man' – she spat out the word – 'that's caused this family so much anguish.'

'Tend to your mother,' Luke pressed, 'She's still there. And Jace, he needs to be…sorted.'

Clary hesitated and turned her head towards the door, she never walked away from a fight but she had the heart to see how much this meant to Luke. _What the hell is wrong with me? I'm here in front of my father, who I've wanted to take revenge on, and I'm actually turning my back on a fight._ She stood up.

Jace, who was standing silently by the dinner table, grabbed her arm in a death grip. 'Do not walk out there, the Forsaken would rip you apart without a weapon.'

'Thank you for your consideration,' She replied darkly.

Jace unexpectedly pushed all his weight forward, forcing her against the wall; he locked her arms above her head. His legs either side of her.

'By the Angel, what are you doing?' She made no move to free herself until she saw Luke and Valentine in a ferocious battle, 'Let me out.' She threatened.

'So you'll die? No I'd rather you alive.'

Clary had no option left; she slid down the wall, suddenly and at lightning speed dove forward between the gap in Jace's legs. Jace, with his hands still locked around Clary's wrists was forced to go downward at such haste that when his head knocked with the wall it left a gaping wound. In surprise, he let go of Clary's wrists as she went between his legs. On her way down, she took the blade from Jace's thigh sheath.

However, she was too late, despite Valentine's gaping slash at his collarbone, he dove the sword into Luke's side and brought it out. Luke fell to the ground in a heap.

She leaped over the table and kicked the sword out of Valentine's hand, 'You have converted my brother to a demon, you subdued my mother and chained her to a bed just to wake up to torture and now you plan to kill very important family to _me_.' Her voice was menacing and hostile enough that if Zeus was real he'd cringe, 'Why don't we take it father to daughter?' She leapt at him, seeing red.

Jace was watching the two fight but was too concussed to do anything considerably helpful. Their moves were too constant and fast and if he wasn't actually hurt – he'd be dumbstruck at their accuracy. He knew Clary wasn't at her finest point - lack of sleep, food and rest - weighed her down. Finally, he saw that Valentine landed a quick kick into Clary's gut, making her fly backwards - the blade flew into the air and landed near Jace. He scrambled for the sword and soon the sword was held at her chin.

'Daughter, I've taught you all the techniques of fighting,' Valentine clucked, 'Don't you think I'd know all the openings and your fighting pattern?'

Clary glared at him.

Valentine inched the sword deeper, drawing blood and –

- The sword was knocked out of his hand with a deafening clang. Jace had taken his dagger that he left on the table and thrown it at the sword. He was looking steely at him, 'No blood will be spilt tonight.'

'And you couldn't do that for Luke?' She muttered. Valentine was staring at Jace in disbelief.

'He's a demon with a human consort,' Valentine spat in response and turned towards her once again.

Jace dove forward, obviously not disoriented anymore, at a speed that Clary would be proud of, he already had the Clary's blade that was parried away in his hand, 'No blood with be _spilt tonight_.' He tackled Valentine and pushed the blade towards his neck, 'You should leave.' He thought for a second, 'No…you _will_ leave.'

'What did you say?' Valentine was incredulous.

'He said: _you _will_ leave_.' Clary answered, of all things she was smug, 'But we want the Mortal Cup.'

Valentine licked his lips, his eyes cold and calculating, 'And if I said it wasn't here?' Cautiously, he stood up and walked towards the wide mirror at the other end of the room.

'In Idris?' Clary snorted, 'No, you're not predictable.' She too, stood up and mirrored Valentine's movements but on the other side of the dining table.

Jace was watching both of them and proceeded to follow them but Clary shook her head. _No._

The mirror swirled into watercolors that ran into a painting like the two beside it. It showed a beautiful and stereotypical cottage beside a lake. Inviting and warm woods were behind it, hills with wide meadows rolled in the distance. 'Jonathan?' Valentine was soothing and tempting, 'Idris awaits your presence…'

Jace gulped and stiffly shook his head but he kept watching the Portal.

'Clarissa?' He murmured, his voice was addicting but it had no effect on Clary until, 'I know how to cure your mother. The spell that bounds her… I'll bring you the Cup. And clarify that my words are true…and I hold the Cup in my grasp.' He stepped into the Portal and gestured in, 'Clarissa…what do you say?'

_I should do it…for my mother and to prevent Valentine's plans._ Clary thought, _but everyone will be in despair if I leave._

She turned her head towards Jace, in sorrow, 'Goodbye Jace.' And she stepped into the Portal, joining her father who was approving of her decision.

Jace raced forward, 'Clary! Don't-'

Before he could leap into the Portal, her fist broke the connection between Idris and New York – shattering the mirror. Everything happened in slow motion... Jace roared in anguish, 'Clary…love.'

Clary's eyes brimmed with unshed tears, 'Isn't having a heart, sacrificing yourself?' Her words echoed around the room, haunting every corner…

And the glass finally fell to the floor. And so was Jace's tear.


	18. If I Cannot Bend Heaven

**A/N I'm sorry. I suck for leaving you guys.**

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><p>Simon wasn't going to lie, Jocelyn didn't look like a princess as everyone in books liked to describe unconscious women. Her hair wasn't nicely fanned around her head, like a red halo, more of that princess from <em>Brave<em>. Wild, messy, knotty, probably not washed in months. He caught himself, _you just related her to a princess Simon._

He had been visiting Jocelyn and Luke since they've been admitted in Brooklyn Hospital Center. No one really cared Jocelyn was strangely unconscious, in a coma with no plausible reason. What were they going to tell the doctors? _We just found her in an abandoned hospital, on an abandoned island off the shore of New York City. Oh, and she was kidnapped by a mass murderer who happened to be her ex-husband._ Well not even ex, there weren't even any legal documents declaring their lawful separation – well none Simon knew of. _They're technically husband and wife,_ Simon shuddered.

No one even cared Luke was oozing out some weird glow-in-the-dark substance from his gaping side wound. Well maybe, _not cared_, wasn't the right words, more of 'no one asked questions'. It's a hospital! They're supposed to give you no privacy. But all they did was clean, disinfect the wounds, bandaged it and stuck him in an available bed. If they checked his blood, they'd find no 'Luke _' would pop up in anyone's system. How unprofessional, you could come in being the most wanted criminal on the planet and expect to be treated anonymously.

Simon ran his fingers through his mousy brown hair, _Why are you doing this again? Oh yeah, cause you feel it's your responsibility to tell her parents she was kidnapped._

* * *

><p>When Clary walked through the Portal, she honestly didn't know what exactly to expect. Her father hadn't but had changed. <em>Heck, I don't even know what change is. I haven't seen him in years.<em> Clary wasn't looking, taking her surroundings down like she know she should. She was deep in thought, barely looking where she was going, unconsciously following the person who called her his daughter.

But Jace, her last glimpse of his face was anguish. This alone had the power to bring her to her knees. Out of everything in the world and dimensions she never wanted to see that again.

_I never even told him how I felt._

Shut up, said her practical, detached, devoid of emotion part of her mind. You could get killed at any moment. And stop being so melodramatic, it never looked good on any girl.

Clary suddenly felt the last resorts of her strength sap out of her.

Keep going. It wasn't Clary telling herself that.

_Lyra?_

Yes, darling? A sly voice echoed through her mind.

Clary didn't reply. She could barely see Valentine ahead of her, her vision blurred and she felt herself falling.

* * *

><p>Jace's head were in his hands. He didn't care his golden hair, he usually tended to every morning, was tousled and uncombed. Everyone was helping him, exhausting resources to find anything on Valentine or anything suggesting he was alive. Idris was on alert, for any suspicious male – not that that would do any good, he was after all alive all this time and no one second glanced him.<p>

But Clary. What the hell was she thinking? Just walking out and taking a Portal to Angel-knows-where with her father? As in her burning-for-world-domination father. Did she not care about Jace at all? Or Simon? Was she so thickheaded to think she could save her mother, single-handedly? Jace would've been there through every single step.

_If only you were watching your back. If only you had been wary ever since Hodge some how got out. Stupid boy, Hodge couldn't break out of his curse unless someone from the Clave –which is highly unlikely, or a powerful guy with powerful resources broke it_, chastised a voice in his head.

It was the only thing he was hearing for the last two weeks. Haunting, taunting, reminding. Replay over replay. So many _if only_. The only thing he ever wanted to change, to go back in time was to do that incident again. Run after, Clary and into the Portal. He would help her with whatever hell she was going through. _Good job, douche. This was because you were deceived by Valentine again._

Shut up. Think about how to find Clary.

He was sitting in the greenhouse as he always did now a days. He was exhausted, late nights spent poring over all the documents he could get his hands on. Replaying every single sentence, word, memory, anything Valentine and Clary had spoken to him. Some sort of inner meaning, code, whatever.

He looked up at the moon, it was a cloudless midnight night. It was feeling like he was. Alone.

* * *

><p>Clary stumbled back and threw her hands up to protect her head. Her strength was diminishing rapidly, black spots invading her vision, her muscles were weak and strained and her concentration and senses were sluggish. Exhaustion.<p>

Top it with a bleeding head and nose.

_This isn't good_, Clary thought as she managed to deflect a blow just in time.

Jonathan laughed, 'Don't slow down now, sister.' He cocked his head to the side, 'You were better before, when you weren't as exposed to family and friends. I'm all you need.' He winked, 'Or I just got better and you got softer.'

Clary scrunched up her nose in disgust, 'Screw you, my brother died when he left me alone in the orphanage.'

Jonathan growled savagely and struck faster in his rage, 'I couldn't do anything.'

She did land blows at the start of the two weeks, or sparring session her father called it. _To the death it seemed._ Every day, she fought with Jonathan until one of them was knocked out. That was, usually her. She barely got sleep either from being too wary of the two men in the household or nightmares. Clary never got nightmares; the last one she remembered was years ago when she was twelve.

This fight she jabbed him straight in the eye, heavy bruises on his upper legs and stomach slowed him down – not much though.

The blows were nothing compared to what Jonathan effortlessly inflicted. He used her size to his advantage and kept kicking her down or throwing her across the sparring zone.

However, Clary was fighting for her life. Her mother. Simon and Jace. She had bursts of adrenaline when she thought of them. She had the will to fight for something much bigger than enjoyment or fun. The willpower to live.

Didn't someone say, _there's nothing stronger than the human willpower to live?_ Screw that, Angels and demons can come and ravage this to hopeless world to oblivion. The only thing stopping them was Shadowhunters. In a way, Shadowhunter sex and baby upbringing and training was the strongest force on Earth.

Lyra occasionally gave her ideas, tactics or warned an incoming punch and kick. They hadn't helped much due to the fact Clary couldn't concentrate on both offence and defense. Her mind and body was too battered and exhausted.

Clary felt darkness go over her once again.

* * *

><p><em>'Do you know why the moon is so lonely?' Hodge had said to a fifteen year old Jace.<em>

'_Let me guess,' Jace smirked, cockily, 'Moon was a playboy with the stars, as in let-me-rock-your-black-hole type. He played with all the stars hearts and then being the pansies they are went to their dad who just happens to be the king of the universe. The Sun was pissed off and banished him to be the servant of a big ass, polluted planet called Earth.'_

_Hodge sighed, exasperated, 'No.'_

_Jace shrugged, 'Well that's my myth for it.'_

_Hodge looked at the full moon, 'Moon had a lover…'_

_Jace snorted, 'Of course he did, my myth is so far half right.'_

'…_and they walked across the skies, visiting planets, dancing in the spirit realm and being you know, lovers. However, the evil Trickster came and was jealous and wanted Moon for himself. He schemed for Moon and came up with a plan. He told Moon's lover, go and pick wild roses upon Earth for her. Moon's lover, so full of love thought nothing of deceit, he happily agreed. However, he knew that once he left the spirit realm, you couldn't go back. When he tried to leave Earth, of course he couldn't. He howls for his Moon every night.'_

_Jace was silent, 'Wolves, that's pretty cool.' He gave Hodge a smirk, 'My one's better and more memorable though.'_

Maryse Lightwood walked briskly or ran as womanly as she could into the greenhouse, she knew exactly where to find Jace, 'Jace! Someone has broken into the Institute!'

Jace immediately stood up, 'What do you mean 'has broken into the Institute'? All the Marks and spells on the Institute would have ward off humans and Downworlders, 'And if it is a fellow Shadowhunter?'

'Well they certainly didn't need to break down the door and set the alarms off in the library.' Maryse snapped, 'Follow me, quickly.'

Jace went after Maryse's retreating form, 'The library? What do you mean the library?'

'As in a room dedicated to be filled up with books and things.' Alec said, as he joined them, 'Of course as in library – whoever's inside is in the library.'

Jace smirked, 'Touché.'

Isabelle caught up, 'Okay, what's the deal? Why did you have to wake me up at one o'clock? Will it need four people to take down one person?'

'I don't know how many there are.' Maryse snapped again. They stopped outside the library, 'Goodness and you didn't even bring weapons.'

'Angel – Maryse,' Jace sighed, exasperated, 'You don't even know how many there are or if they're hostile. Just because they broke down the Institute door, does not mean we need the an army.' He reached down and picked up a knife from his calf sheath, 'I always have something sharp with me.'

'Plus he can make one out of anything,' Alec defended his parabatai.

'Angel, just shut up and get all this over and done with.' Isabelle walked over and threw open the library doors.

'Isabelle!' Maryse yelled, 'We needed some sort of plan.'

No one was listening to her they were all staring at a form rising up from the chair. The library was coated with darkness, that they could not work out a single detail about the person apart from the fact that they were considerably short.

'Angel,' commented an alluring but cold voice, 'I could hear your so called plans from behind closed doors.'

A light flicked on.

The light revealed a woman, a young lady with a shock of red hair.

'Clary?' Jace didn't think twice and rushed to her. _I'll never let you go again, crazy girl. Going off like that, with your deranged father! Do you know how much I have been worried sick and exhausted? Thank the Angel you're back and you're in my ar-_

Clary grabbed his arms and twisted it behind his back, consequently forcing him to turn around back to his adoptive family. She kicked his knees in and he buckled, kneeling heavily on the ground. She released her grip and he fell forward. In any other situation, he would've seen it coming, or at least retaliated and defend himself.

'Wha-' Shock couldn't cover their reaction to Clary's sudden violence – especially to someone as Jace.

She looked at them, amusement sparkling in her eyes. Jace took a sharp intake of breath, her _eyes_. They weren't the glittering, brilliant emerald he loved, that he adored. They were black – devoid of colour, of warmth or feeling but coldness. They were always searching, thinking, calculating how she would benefit from any situation, how she would get out of any situation. Everything about her was the same but those _eyes_.

'I don't about Clary, but I certainly don't like being hugged and touched intimately unless I allow it,' she said, more like purred, 'New York, how I loved you before. I'm back, bitches, and I don't intend on leaving.'


	19. The Gates of Hell Are Open

**DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN NOTHIN'**

**A/N: ****I'm sorry for not uploading for ages - I've had a lot of emotional and drama go on... but that's no excuse you'd say...** **I am also in the process of editing previous chapters.**

**And anyway, I don't know how I feel about the City of Bones movie. I haven't watched it because I have a feeling it would ruin this series for me as a lot of movie adaptions have. I mean, from the start I didn't exactly...like the casting of Jace at all. AND the trailer was a bit of a downer because Jace looked so damn serious everywhere which is really OOC, so...yeap. Not going to watch it.**

**Plus**

**Wikipedia is the most trusted source right? Well it said: "Cassandra Clare responded, saying the draft screenplay she saw was "very far from the book" and that the original schedule would not have allowed time for changes, and she thought the delay could be good."**

**And I'm like. Great.**

**No sarcasm whatsoever.**

**BUT you can't judge a book from its movie...I'm sure there's a lot of good things about the movie and the actors are great but...y'know...I don't think I would personally enjoy the adaption.**

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><p>Amusement and delight couldn't even <em>cover<em> what Lyra was feeling as she watched each Lightwood; especially Clary's new plaything kneeling on the floor. The girl Clary knew as Isabelle didn't even try masking her shock, her mouth gaping open like a fish. Maryse's face was blown over with dread and alarm, whether she knew who she was or not, Lyra didn't give a flying ass. Isabelle's brother…Alec, was it? Concern gnawed at his eyes but his hatred for her was evident through every feature of his body: clenched fists, the hard stern line of his mouth, bent knees ready to strike out…

It was Jonathan Christopher "Jace" as everyone knew him that made her want to laugh. There he was, pathetic as ever, kneeling on the floor as if he gave up hope at the mere sight of her. His head bent back to look up at her. Disbelief and a hint of sadness staring at her as he drank in the differences between her and Clary.

Pitiful.

And this was the great 'Jace Wayland'?

"Well?" Lyra sat down gracefully on the table, leading back, getting comfortable with her surroundings. She twirled a dagger in her hand, "What is the almighty New York Institute going to do with me?" She cocked her head mockingly, "Would they dare to kill me? Along with their precious _Clarissa_?" Her black eyes slid to Jace on the floor who still hadn't noticed his pathetic position on the floor, "Fight me?" In boastful speed she was behind Isabelle murmuring in her ear, "I'd like to see you all try."

Isabelle sucked in a breath and held it, as if she was waiting to be stabbed. _Relax; I still need you and your family, Isabelle dear. They won't negotiate with me if it's my knife sticking out of your heart._

"What happened to Clary?" Jace growled on the floor. _Finally, some reaction but stupidity from him_. She saw him stand up his posture was stiff; the anger masked as iciness.

Lyra stepped away from Isabelle, who finally breathed out heavily. She walked back to the table and lay down, facing the ceiling, "You have a beautiful library, Maryse, take care of it." She heard something slam and suddenly Jace's face was inches from her own. Each hand beside her head to help him lean over her body.

"_What happened to her_?" Jace's eyes were blazing into her eyes with golden fury but her obsidian orbs lazily shut.

"Well isn't this a compromising position?" Lyra breathed, knowing full well the effect she had on him – especially with her eyes shut. Without them to remind him of who she actually was, Jace could easily imagine it as his long lost _Clary_.

Lyra felt Jace stiffen above her, his minty breath breezing over her face. She flicked her eyes open after some time, "Now move, as much as I enjoy the lust I'm feeling, I'd rather watch the ceiling – it is beautiful after all."

With a growl of frustration and humiliation, Jace shoved away from Lyra. "I will ask you one more time and I expect an answer, what happened to Clary?"

Lyra blew out a long-drawn and dramatic sigh, "You want an answer, Goldilocks? It's what Clary called you before, yes?" Not waiting for an answer or response she went on, "Why so curious?"

Jace's tone barely contained the irritation, "What do you mean by 'curious', of course I – "

"You like her or you want to get into her panties and make sweet Shadowhunter sex, or maybe you're just friends…" Lyra trailed off, "Or maybe you're guilty because it is _your_ fault after all…"

"_What_?" She could tell her words hit him because he could barely choke out the word. She turned her head towards her audience, Alec's face morphed into an expression that wished she could burn in hell, Isabelle's was similar but not that extreme and Maryse's eyes still held unease. _She thinks this is the calm before the storm._

Lyra looked straight at Jace, drilling her black eyes into his, "Well, you were the one the got yourself kidnapped by _Hodge_. The mighty Jace Wayland kidnapped by an old man. Well I guess it was a stab in the back but I think it just took one hit to get you unconscious." She saw Jace step toward her, his eyes a blazed with fury again but they also held guilt. "Then of course, Clary comes after you, you would if the positions swapped. And during the night, you were conflicted," she held on hand out as if she was serving a plate, "Trust Valentine, the man who made the streets of Alicante run with blood or," She held out her other hand, "or trust the woman you claim to love."

"_Shut up_." Jace managed, "Just shut up."

Lyra sighed mockingly, "Why didn't you go after her? Follow her into the Portal...surely you knew she was going to take the opportunity to rescue her mother. Wouldn't you have done the same if it was someone like your _parabatai_, Alec?"

"_SHUT UP!_" Lyra allowed Jace to take her by the shoulders and slam her into the wall with enough force, books fell out of their shelves. His head next to hers and mouth leaning to her ear, "What happened to her?"

"Jace, Jace, Jace," She clucked her tongue, "You asked again, I thought you said weren't going to ask twice." She felt his hands grip her upper arms and she slid her hands to his shoulders. Then she pushed her upper back and using that momentum she jumped to wrap her legs around his waist. Lyra thrust all her weight and the momentum of her push forward so she had him on the floor…and her straddling him. "No need to hurt a woman."

"Honestly, I'm disappointed," Lyra said, still straddling him, "What did Magnus say at Chairman Meow's party?"

_I think Lyra is triggered by severe emotional and mental trauma, exactly what you faced just when you first came here. Lyra came to say hello and murdered nine or ten victims – oh by the way it was declared a cold case earlier this year._

"Severe emotional and mental trauma." Jace whispered from the ground. She looked up to see the Lightwoods' expressions. Alec was horrified – but still hateful at her, Isabelle had overwhelming sadness and Maryse…was just uneasy. _Still waiting for that storm to blow over - or at least come._

"Good job, Jace, after all that trouble you answered your own question, you've been willing to stab me for." Lyra grinned and stood up, "I killed eleven by the way."

"What exactly happened to her?" Jace whispered, his tone desperate and eyes hollow.

"Fine, your dear Clarissa, went to hell and came back as me." Lyra said, vaguely.

"She _died_?" Jace snapped up, his eyes wild.

"No but," Lyra paused dramatically to draw out the suspense, "she, you could say, is currently recuperating in here." She pointed to the side of her head, "Like me when I was in this body, she can see everything that's going on. So if you ever, y'know, want to satisfy that thirst for Clary…" She leaned in, "I could always close my eyes and let you." Jace sucked in a breath as she pulled away, "But not right now."

For the first time, Maryse spoke, her voice ringing with authority and respect, "Lyra Morgernstern, what has happened to Clary?" Her eyes flicked to Jace with concern and support.

Lyra rolled her eyes, "If you demand so, she had a fight – or spar as Valentine liked to call it." She heard everyone still their breathing, "Clary was going well at the start of the fortnight she was held there. However, she was given insufficient food and rest and that accumulated over time so she was drained after each fight. Enough for me to step in and intervene."

"Why did you intervene?" Maryse asked. _Aren't you an unintelligent one?_

At the same time Jace demanded, "Who? Who did she fight with?"

"A spar at 7 in the morning until she passed out, then it began again when she woke up. Valentine deemed clary passing out as her rest and she was given food in the morning and evening. I have to say it was grueling…" Lyra went on, "Especially with our demon brother, Jonathan Christopher." She lazily looked at Jace, his face paled then to Maryse's "And I intervened to save her life, if I didn't we were both dead by the next fight."

"You mean to save yours." Isabelle said, matter-of-factly.

Lyra shrugged, not at all embarrassed, "But their faces were priceless when Clary woke as me."

_Lyra felt a swift kick to her stomach, cracking her already bruised ribs. Then silence, "I wouldn't do that, brother." She didn't dare open her eyes; the obvious colour change would break her surprise so she lay there on her side, eyes closed as her body hastily knitted itself together._

"_Oh and why not?" Jonathan's voice was right above her body, probably going to jump down on top of it once she was up and ready to fight. Although his voice was laced with amusement it held suspicion to why she was being mocking._

_Stall him enough for your body to be at its peak performance._

"_I'm tired." _Lies, _she smirked inwardly to herself_, I can't _wait_ to fight again.

"_When did I ever care about your wellbeing?" Jonathan retorted, smugly._

Idiot. _"Before we were separated." She felt the ribs crack softly as it healed fully, her bruised lips swelled down to normal leaving only dried blood, the bruises on her skin lightened and faded to her pale complexion. Her body was no longer aching but was replenished and thirsted for blood. _Showtime.

_She stood up, her eyes still closed. She listened to her surroundings, the fact her fast healing advantage also heightened her senses. Sense of movement, sight, hearing and smell – it tweaked them to be above normal for a Shadowhunter. She was probably the only one advantaged enough to match her brother._

"_What happened?" Jonathan's mocking voice came behind her. She didn't turn around at it though, "Did I gouge your eyes out?"_

_She cracked her neck in anticipation, "Would you like to see?" She felt her brother, despite his silent footsteps, walk around her in inspection then stopping in front of her, two feet away._

"_What happened to your bruises?" He was suspicious but hadn't figured it out. If he knew at all of his sister's alter ego, "Healing Rune?"_

"_Nope," Her eyes flashed open to look at him, "Hello, brother, I believe we've never met before." She took his shock as her advantage and swiped his leg from underneath him, she let him gracefully stand up. "My name is Lyra, Lyra…Morgernstern." His black eyes just stared at hers._

"_I know of no person with that name."_

_She didn't respond and leapt forward, feigning a right elbow strike across his face and ducked using the momentum as Jonathan made a move for her neck. She used her left leg to slam a kick into his unprotected side. Jonathan grunted, stepping away momentarily before attacking straight out. Punching in a routine Lyra could easily dodge, the last dodge she lashed out driving her elbow across his face. Jonathan stumbled and he stumbled more when she punched him straight in the nose with savage accuracy. She kicked him in the stomach with enough force to hear a crack in his ribs. Jonathan landed on the ground but somersaulted backwards to stand up. She grinned and used a 'come hither' when she took a defensive stance. _

_Jonathan growled and she saw a bruise forming on his face as he ran towards her. She sidestepped him as he expected and made a move to jab her in the stomach. She twisted, letting her side take the blow her body continued the momentum and she raised her left leg to kick him. Jonathan caught her leg, swung her around and threw her against the wall. Lyra gracefully landed; unhurt, like a spider on the wall and with violent power pushed herself against it to go flying back at her unexpected brother. She flew at him, tackling him to the ground. Then they went rolling, Lyra's hands around her brother's neck, squeezing._

_Then she remembered, Clarissa's last words before Lyra took over, "Don't kill him. He's our brother." _

_Lyra sighed and stopped rolling. She took her hands off his neck and stood up, offering her hand. Jonathan looked momentarily confused but all the more suspicious. He stood up, not taking her hand._

"_Why?"_

"_Your stupid sister." Before whipping out and sucker punching him in the stomach then snapping his head back with an uppercut below his jaw._

_Jonathan lay unconscious yet his surprised expression made the fight worthwhile._

"You defeated Jonathan?" Maryse raised on eyebrow.

"Him on the floor unconscious, it was definitely a Kodak moment." She sighed in contentment as she remembered.

"And Valentine?" Maryse asked.

Lyra grinned, "That's for another time. Anyway, I have a city to welcome."

"What are you going to do?" Maryse asked alarmed. _The storm is almost upon you. _All the Shadowhunters had their weapons whipped out ready to attack at the next sign of hostility.

"Do what I want to do." She shrugged and in blinding speed, she sucker punched Isabelle in the stomach effectively knocking her out. She disarmed her and spun around with Isabelle's whip before the other's could step forward, "Don't take this too personally." She lashed out with the whip for it to coil around Jace's neck, slightly restricting him from his airways. Then she threw her blade she was playing with before at Alec's foot, pinning him to the ground, "Sorry, I'm a bitch."

Maryse stood, inwardly fighting to either fight Lyra or help her sons and daughter. As Lyra expected she chose the latter.

Lyra walked out casually out of the room and proceeded to exit the Institute, "_Oh_ New York, how I've missed you."


End file.
